London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Aug 30, 2025

Boots owner to explore sale of UK’s biggest high street chemist chain

Boots owner to explore sale of UK’s biggest high street chemist chain

Walgreens Boots Alliance is lining up Goldman Sachs to work on a potential disposal of the UK’s biggest and best-known chain of high street chemists.
The parent company of Boots, Britain's biggest high street chemist, is to explore a sale of the business next year that could value it at well over £5bn.

Sky News has learnt that Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) is lining up Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street bank, to advise it on a review of options that could result in new owners for the 172-year old health and beauty retailer.

City sources said on Friday evening that the process would be exploratory and might not ultimately lead to WBA disposing of Boots.

Spinning the chain off into a separately listed company could also be a possibility, they added.

A full-blown auction of Boots would be among the most significant deals involving a high street chain for many years, and will draw close scrutiny in Whitehall given Boots' critical nationwide role in delivering public healthcare services.

Boots operates a network of 2200 stores - one of the largest in Britain - and employs 55,000 people, making it one of the country's biggest private sector employers.

The chain is run by Sebastian James, the former Dixons Carphone chief executive, who has presided over a period of renewed investment in the business following a period in which its stores were criticised for failing to modernise.

There has been growing speculation in recent months that Illinois-based WBA might contemplate a sale of its British retail business, following the disposal of its European distribution arm, Alliance Healthcare, for $6.5bn earlier this year.

Valuing the business is likely to be a complicated process given the changing nature of consumer behaviour and its predominantly rented store estate, with many shops tied to long leases.

If it valued Boots at £10bn or more, a sale of Boots would be the biggest proposed UK retail deal since a £15bn merger of Asda and J Sainsbury was aborted in 2019 for competition reasons.

Asda was subsequently sold for £6.8bn to a consortium comprising Asda and Mohsin and Zuber Issa, the businessmen behind the EG Group petrol retailing empire.

Private equity funds sitting on huge undeployed pools of capital will inevitably be among the suitors for Boots.

One analyst put the pharmacy chain's value at between £10bn and £12bn, although it is unclear whether any emerging bids will be tabled within that range.

Another market source thought the likely valuation would be closer to half that range.

WBA has a market capitalisation of $38.62bn (£29.2bn).

For Mr Pessina, a decision to sell Boots would probably represent a bittersweet moment.

The Italian octogenarian engineered the merger of Boots and Alliance Unichem, a drug wholesaler, in 2006, with the buyout firm KKR acquiring the combined group in an £11bn deal the following year.

In 2012, Walgreens acquired a 45pc stake in Alliance Boots, completing its buyout of the business two years later.

Mr Pessina and his partner, Ornella Barra, the group's chief operating officer for its international businesses, have been mainstays with the company since the original Boots merger.

Earlier this year, Rosalind Brewer, Starbucks' president and chief operating officer, joined WBA as its chief executive.

In a statement issued to Sky News on Friday, the company said: "Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) does not comment on market speculation and Boots is an important part of the Group.

"However, it is accurate that WBA announced a renewed set of priorities and strategic direction for the Group in October, which includes a more pointed focus on North America and on healthcare.

"As underlined during the last WBA investor conference, the Group continues to be very pleased with the performance of Boots and the International division as a whole."

The company added that Boots UK was continuing to expand its healthcare offering, while its online operation "continues to grow above expectations having more than doubled sales when compared to pre-pandemic levels".

In its latest financial results, published last month, WBA said that Boots UK like-for-like pharmacy sales increased 11.4pc compared with the prior year, "reflecting stronger demand for pharmacy services, notably COVID-19 tests".

Last year, Boots announced 4000 job cuts as a consequence of a restructuring of its Nottingham head office and store management teams.

Shortly before the pandemic, it also earmarked about 200 of its UK stores for closure, a reflection of changing shopping habits.

Boots' heritage traces back to John Boot opening a herbal remedies store in Nottingham in 1849.

It opened its 1000th UK store in 1933.

Last month, LloydsPharmacy, another major UK chemist chain, was sold as part of a divestment programme by its parent, US-listed McKesson Corporation.

Shares in WBA were trading on Friday afternoon at $44.83, having risen by a modest 4% during the last 12 months.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
Federal Reserve Independence Questioned Amid Trump’s Push to Reshape Central Bank
British Politics Faces Tumultuous Autumn After Summer of Rebellions and Rising Farage Momentum
US Appeals Court Rules Against Most Trump-Era Tariffs
UK Sought Broad Access to Apple Users’ Data, Court Filing Reveals
UK Bank Shares Dive Over Potential Tax on Sector
Germany’s Auto Industry Sheds 51,500 Jobs in First Half of 2025 Amid Deepening Crisis
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
A new faith called Robotheism claims artificial intelligence isn’t just smart but actually God itself
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner Purchases Third Property Amid Housing Tax Reforms Debate
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Italian Facebook Group Sharing Intimate Images Without Consent Shut Down Amid Police Investigation
Dutch Foreign Minister Resigns Amid Deadlock Over Israel Sanctions
Trump and Allies Send Messages of Support to Ukraine on Independence Day Amid Ongoing Conflict
China Reels as Telegram Chat Group Shares Hidden-Camera Footage of Women and Children
Sam Nicoresti becomes first transgender comedian to win Edinburgh Comedy Award
Builders uncover historic human remains in Lancashire house renovation
Australia Wants to Tax Your Empty Bedrooms
MotoGP Cameraman Narrowly Avoids Pedro Acosta Crash at Hungarian Grand Prix
FBI Investigates John Bolton Over Classified Documents in High-Profile Raids
Report reveals OpenAI pitched national ChatGPT Plus subscription to UK ministers
×