AmerisourceBergen to buy drug wholesaler H.D. Smith for $815 mln

Nov 20 (Reuters) - AmerisourceBergen Corp said on Monday it would buy privately held U.S. drug wholesaler H. D. Smith for $815 million in cash.

AmerisourceBergen, which plans to fund the deal through long-term debt issuance, expects the transaction to slightly add to its adjusted earnings per share in the current fiscal year.

The drug distributor now expects revenue growth to be in the range of 8 percent to 11 percent in fiscal 2018, compared with its previous forecast of 7 percent to 9 percent.

The company expects the deal to close by early 2018. (Reporting by Akankshita Mukhopadhyay in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)