Sycamore Flips Boots to the Westons for $9 Billion, Eighteen Months After Buying It
The private equity firm that took Walgreens private is reportedly close to selling off Boots, the U.K. pharmacy chain, to the Canadian branch of the family behind Loblaw and a sprawling grocery empire.
Sycamore Partners is reportedly closing in on a deal to sell Boots, the 176-year-old U.K. pharmacy chain, to the Canadian branch of the Weston family for nearly $9 billion including debt. The buyer is best known for a grocery and baked-goods empire, not blister-pack inventory, which makes this less a retail acquisition than a bet that pharmacy counters are a decent place to park family money right now.
The sale would unwind part of a deal that is barely a year old. Sycamore Partners took Walgreens Boots Alliance private for roughly $23.7 billion in 2025, and flipping Boots this quickly suggests the firm always saw the U.K. chain as the easiest piece to carve off and cash in on, while it works out what to do with the harder, more American half of the business.
No closing date has been set, and neither side has confirmed terms publicly. But if it closes, it hands a 176-year-old high street fixture to a family whose instincts run toward supermarkets, not shelves of own-brand skincare.
Source: Inside Retail US
Kyle Duford, Founder & Editor, BRNDWIRE. More from Kyle →
