(Reuters) – Pharmacy chain Walgreens Boots Alliance is considering an acquisition of healthcare IT firm Evolent Health Inc, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Evolent’s shares rose as much as 18% after the report, before paring some of the gains to trade nearly up 8%.
Bloomberg reported that the talks are ongoing and there is no certainty Walgreens will move forward with an offer to buy the company.
Walgreens and Evolent did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Evolent had a market value of $2.36 billion, as of Tuesday’s closing price.
(Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
