Shareholders Try to Lure Walgreens to Move HQ Out of Deerfield

Shareholders are pressuring Deerfield-based Walgreens — the nation's largest drugstore chain — to move its corporate headquarters to Europe, the Financial Times reports.

Walgreens will take over Europe's largest pharmacy chain, Switzerland-based Alliance Boots, in 2015, according to the Financial Times, in a story published behind a pay wall.

The Chicago Tribune, citing the FT, reports that shareholders representing 5 percent of the Walgreens company shares lobbied the company executives to relocate HQ outside of the United States for the tax advantages during a meeting in Paris.

"Our focus is always on analyzing and doing what is in the best long-term interest of our company and its shareholders, and when we have something more definitive to announce about our future structure and strategies, we will do so," said company spokesman Jim Graham in a statement.

Walgreens recently sold six of its buildings on the Deerfield campus but is leasing them back for employees.