Canada’s Weston family has reached a deal to buy U.K. pharmacy chain Boots from Sycamore Partners for $8.9 billion including debt. Wittington Investments, the Weston’s holding company, said Wednesday it reached a definitive agreement to buy Boots and its associated businesses from majority-owner Sycamore, in partnership with Stefano Pessina, the former executive chairman of Walgreens Boots Alliance which once owned the Boots business, and his family. The move will see Wittington buy Boots’ retail operations in the U.K. and Ireland, the Boots Opticians chain, No7 Beauty Co., and its Thailand and franchised businesses.
Sycamore Partners, along with Pessina and his family, will retain ownership of Boots’s interests in Farmacias Benavides in Mexico and Alliance Healthcare Deutschland. The deal to buy Boots comes a little over a year after Sycamore completed the acquisition of Walgreens Boots for about $10 billion excluding debt and positioned Boots as a stand-alone business. Wittington said the Weston group brings to the deal expertise developed over decades in the retail, pharmacy and beauty industries.
The Weston family’s Wittington is the controlling shareholder of George Weston and through it Loblaw, Canada’s largest food retailer and the operator of the country’s Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacy chain. In the U.K., another part of the family is invested in Associated British Foods, a large food-processing company and retailer, and Wittington from 2003 to 2021 was owner of British department store Selfridges. Wittington said it was teaming up with Toronto-based Fairfax Financial on the acquisition.
Fairfax signed an equity commitment letter to provide up to roughly $2.3 billion, which will see it take 50% of the equity of Boots when the deal closes. Wittington will have operational control of Boots and Galen Weston, the chairman of both George Weston and Loblaw, will serve as chair of Boots. “Boots is one of Britain’s most enduring businesses, with a rich heritage, a trusted name and a vital role in everyday life across the U.K. and Ireland,” Galen Weston said. Boots traces its roots back to 1849 when John Boots opened the first store selling herbal remedies in Nottingham, England.
By 1933 it had opened its 1,000th U.K. store, and two years later it launched No7 cosmetics. The transaction remains subject to certain regulatory approvals and is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2027.
Source: Wall Street Journal US Business · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing