Aug 1 (Reuters) - Walgreens Boots Alliance ( WBA ) said

on Thursday it has sold shares in drug distributor Cencora ( COR )

for proceeds of about $1.1 billion.

Walgreens' ownership of Cencora ( COR ) has now decreased from about

12% to about 10%, it said.

Walgreens has sold shares worth $818 million and Cencora ( COR )

has agreed to repurchase shares worth $250 million, the

companies said.

Proceeds from the share sale will be used primarily for

debt pay down and general corporate purposes, as Walgreens

continues to build out a more capital-efficient health services

strategy rooted in its retail pharmacy footprint.

For the past year, the pharmacy chain has been gradually

reducing its stake in the drug distributor.

In

May

, Walgreens sold $400 million worth of shares, lowering its

stake to about 12% from about 13%.

The pharmacy chain reiterated that the sale has no

impact to the long-term partnership between the two companies.