By Paul Ziobro

For Stefano Pessina, the Italian billionaire who helped take over and run Walgreens, it was always a matter of when, not if, he pulled the trigger on his next deal. "I believe that the American market will go through a substantial wave of consolidation horizontally and vertically," Mr. Pessina told investors in the drugstore chain in July.

"I have said very clearly that we want to be part of this at the right time with the right partner." The 74-year-old chief executive of Walgreens Boots Alliance Co. has boasted of completing scores of deals during his career as he turned his family-owned drug distribution business into a sprawling international health care company.

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