Walgreen to pay more than $2.85 million to settle US overbilling charges
The settlement partially resolves claims against the Walgreens Boots Alliance unit brought under the federal, Georgia and Massachusetts False Claims Act.
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Walgreen pharmacies were accused of having from 2008 to 2023 submitted elevated "usual and customary" prices for some generic medications to the MassHealth and Georgia Medicaid programs, causing those programs to pay more for the medications than they should have.
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Q&A Auction heats up for Venezuela's refiner Citgo, US court ponders bids
HOUSTON, Aug 21 (Reuters) - A U.S. court auction of Venezuelan-owned U.S. refiner Citgo is heating up after delays as bidders raise their offers, good news for creditors seeking compensation from the South American nation for debt defaults and a wave of nationalizations under late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Citgo is the crown jewel of Venezuela's foreign assets. Last-minute bids have spiced up the competition in the bidding round due to end this month, in contrast to an underwhelming round last year. Units of commodities house Vitol and hedge fund Elliott Investment Management have recently submitted improved bids to challenge the front-runner, a subsidiary of miner Gold Reserve (GRZ.V), opens new tab. The intensity of the competition led Judge Leonard Stark to extend the bidding period through Friday and reschedule the final hearing on the auction to mid-September. The case should help repay up to 15 creditors for debt defaults and expropriations by Venezuela. But many involved and observing are unclear about the metrics the court officer overseeing the auction will use to determine the best offer. Which factors will be considered? The most difficult challenge for bidders and the team of court officer Robert Pincus has been to evaluate the offers' price versus "certainty of closure," a term defining a proposal's chances of becoming a real takeover. The auction's winner will need to navigate a complex process to take over assets amid objections, challenges and other creditors' attempts to seize them in parallel legal cases. Some bidders are willing to close a deal for Citgo's parent and then face parallel lawsuits that could lead to side payments to creditors later. Other bidders want to secure settlement agreements beforehand to reduce the risk of any future lawsuit. Following the resolution of some legal cases since last year, the most important payment consideration now is to holders of a Venezuelan defaulted bond collateralized with Citgo equity, even though the holders have not won their case against Venezuela in New York. A key decision on that is expected next month. Offers submitted in the bidding round include cash, non-cash considerations and credit bids. This makes their evaluation and comparison complex, since creditors have the right to approve or reject some components of the offers. What has the judge prioritized before? The court has changed its evaluation criteria since last year, when most creditors rejected a $7.3 billion conditional offer by Elliott's affiliate Amber Energy due to a proposed payment prioritization scheme that would have prevented many from cashing proceeds any time soon. In a competition earlier this year to choose a stalking horse bid, the court selected a $3.7 billion offer by Contrarian Funds' affiliate Red Tree Investments to kick off the round. That bid was selected mainly because it included a separate $3 billion payment to the bondholders. However, Judge Stark later instructed evaluators to prioritize price over certainty of closure for choosing the final winner so the payment to bondholders would not eat up proceeds intended for the creditors that have lined up in Delaware since 2017. Will the criteria change to choose the final winner? It remains unclear, even after a procedural hearing to discuss the topic this week. In July, Pincus recommended the Gold Reserve group's $7.4 billion offer as the winning bid. That offer does not include an agreement to pay the bondholders. But the bid was later challenged by other offers, including one by Amber Energy that included a $2.86 billion payment agreement with the holders. What will happen after? Many creditors including ConocoPhillips (COP.N), opens new tab, which holds the largest claims of almost $12 billion, and Gold Reserve, have pursued legal actions outside of the U.S. to seize Venezuela-owned assets, such as bank accounts, tankers and facilities controlled by Venezuelan state energy giant PDVSA. Creditors can submit objections if they are dissatisfied with the auction's results. They and other creditors outside Delaware can also continue parallel cases in other U.S. courts. But it is unlikely that all 15 creditors, who are collectively trying to recover some $19 billion, will receive proceeds from the auction. Citgo was valued at up to $13 billion in an independent valuation ordered by the court. Bids, however, have not topped $11 billion. Citgo, the U.S. seventh-largest refiner, saw its profit plummet to $305 million last year from nearly $2 billion in 2023, and registered losses between the fourth quarter 2024 and the first quarter this year. The company returned to profit in the second quarter.
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Gulf bourses end mixed in cautious trade ahead of Fed's symposium
Aug 21 (Reuters) - Gulf stock markets ended mixed on Thursday, with higher oil prices lending some support and investors in cautious mood ahead of U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole symposium on Friday. Crude prices, a catalyst for the Gulf's financial markets, rose with Brent up 0.3% to $67.07 a barrel by 1250 GMT, buoyed by signs of firm U.S. demand and uncertainty about the prospects of a deal to end the Ukraine war. The Qatari benchmark index (.QSI), opens new tab pared early losses to close up 0.3%, driven by broad-based gains. Qatar Islamic Bank ( opens new tab added 1.3% and Qatar Gas Transport ( opens new tab advanced 1.2%. Despite Thursday's gain, the index saw its first weekly decline after an eight-week winning streak. Dubai's benchmark stock index (.DFMGI), opens new tab edged up 0.1%, supported by a 1.0% gain in toll operator Salik ( opens new tab and a 3.1% rise in Dubai Financial Market ( opens new tab. Blue-chip developer Emaar Properties ( opens new tab fell 0.7%, while Gulf Navigation ( opens new tab lost 1.4%. "The market continues to consolidate near current levels after a prolonged period of gains. A correction is possible if the market cannot find sufficient support to break through the key resistance level around 6,200 points," said Hani Abuagla, senior market analyst at XTB MENA. Saudi Arabia's benchmark stock index (.TASI), opens new tab slipped 0.1%, weighed by declines across most sectors. Saudi Awwal Bank ( opens new tab fell 3.7%, and Saudi Aramco ( opens new tab lost 0.7%. Meanwhile, Saudi crude exports in June fell to a three-month low, data from the Joint Organisations Data Initiative showed on Wednesday. The Abu Dhabi benchmark index (.FTFADGI), opens new tab was marginally lower, with First Abu Dhabi Bank ( opens new tab down 0.5% and Lulu Retail ( opens new tab off 1.6%, while Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA) ( opens new tab gained 0.9%. The state-owned firm said it had secured an 8.5-billion-dirham ($2.3-billion) term loan to bolster liquidity and support growth. Investors across the region are focused on the Fed's annual research conference in Jackson Hole, running Thursday to Saturday, awaiting Powell's speech on Friday for clues on a potential rate cut as soon as next month. Monetary policy shifts in the U.S. have a significant impact on Gulf markets, where most currencies are pegged to the dollar. Outside the Gulf, Egypt's blue-chip index (.EGX30), opens new tab fell for a second session, ending down 0.3% as most constituents declined. Commercial International Bank ( opens new tab slipped 0.5% and Arabian Cement ( opens new tab dropped 2.5%.
