Dive Brief:

• CTW Investment Group, a firm that works with unions on pension funds, has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to look into whether Walgreens failed to properly disclose meetings it had earlier this year about moving overseas.

• Chicago-based Walgreens also earlier this year was in talks to wholly acquire UK drugstore retailer Boots, of which it already owns a significant stake. The move was seen as making an overseas relocation more possible.

• Moving overseas would garner Walgreens billions of dollars in tax savings over several years.

Dive Insight:

Moving headquarters overseas to avoid U.S. taxes, known as a “tax inversion,” can be great for the bottom line, but they are politically controversial. The move is not always best in the long run for shareholders, and definitely not for taxpayers. The White House and many members of Congress would like to make it more difficult for U.S. companies to “domicile” this way in tax-free or tax-light countries.