Walgreens Boots Alliance sold to private equity firm Sycamore Partners
The owner of high-street pharmacy chain Boots is being bought by a private equity firm, and it will no longer be a public company listed on a stock exchange.
Walgreens Boots Alliance had agreed to a $23.7bn (£18.37bn) deal with private equity firm Sycamore Partners, as first reported by Sky News.
It means the business will no longer be a company with publicly traded shares listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York.
Instead, for the first time in nearly a hundred years, it will be under the private ownership of the private equity firm, which specialises in retail.
In return, shareholders will get $11.45 (£8.86) per share with the possibility of receiving another $3 (£2.32) per share if other business sale conditions are met.
Private equity firms acquire businesses, invest to improve financial performance and seek to then sell them for a profit.
Other high-street businesses, such as Morrisons and Asda supermarkets, have been acquired by private equity.
It's unclear what the impact of the deal will be on Boots shops in the UK but a sale of that part of the business by new owners could be triggered.
The chain has announced the closure of 300 stores in 2023 while Walgreens Boots Alliance shed 90% of its share price value since 2015.
A sell-off of the Boots arm of the business from the Walgreens Boots Alliance had been considered but was abandoned in 2022 amid torrid conditions in debt-financing markets.
Boots was acquired by Walgreens in 2014
Walgreens Boots Alliance was founded by John Boot in 1849, who sold herbal remedies.
It employs about 51,000 people in the UK in 1,800 pharmacies and opticians.
Union reaction
The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) union said it recognised why private equity ownership "and the inability to influence" it, "may be particularly worrying to pharmacists and other employees".
"It can be assumed that any potential new owners would implicitly only buy a business that they believe they can take more value from, so at some level change will follow, but that need not be negative... as a large organisation pharmacists at Boots are already used to seeing significant change," the union said.
"The PDA calls upon the NHS and the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) to ensure that any possible impacts on the community pharmacy network because of this development are appropriately managed to ensure access for the public and that standards are constantly maintained."
The Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) have been contacted for comment.
Boots had no comment.
-SKY NEWS
