Weston family buys Boots for $8.9B, ending London IPO hopes
What's the deal? The billionaire Weston family is buying BootsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → for $8.9 billion (£6.7 billion), the UK high street retailer announced on Wednesday. Wittington InvestmentsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, the holding company for the Westons' Canadian operations, is acquiring the chain from private equity owner Sycamore PartnersDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
What's included? The sale covers Boots' retail operations in the UK and Ireland, its opticians business, its No7 BeautyDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → brand, and its Thailand franchise operations. Toronto-based holding company FairfaxDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → will partner with Wittington to complete the acquisition.
What's left out? Stefano Pessina and his family, who grew Boots into a global retail empire, will keep their stakes in Mexican drugstore chain Farmacias BenavidesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and pharma group Alliance Healthcare DeutschlandDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. Pessina partnered with Sycamore on its $10 billion acquisition of Boots from Walgreens Boots AllianceDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → in August last year, then stepped down from executive chair to become a director.
Why now? The deal ends months of speculation over whether Boots would make a blockbuster return to the London Stock Exchange. Hopes of a listing rose earlier this year when Australian pharmacy group Sigma HealthcareDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → quit talks over a private sale, leaving an IPO and the Westons as the only two options.
Who are the Westons? One of the world's richest families, they own a majority stake in FTSE-100-listed AB FoodsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, which includes fast-fashion retailer PrimarkDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. Galen Weston, chair of Wittington, will become Boots chairman.
Weston pledged "stable long-term ownership, further capital investment, and the renewed operating focus required to serve customers with excellence for generations to come." Fairfax chairman and chief executive Prem Watsa said the Westons "will be an excellent steward of the Boots business."
The signal: Boots became the first blue-chip firm to leave the London Stock Exchange in a private equity takeover when Pessina and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts bought it in 2007. Its sale to the Westons keeps one of the UK's biggest retailers in private hands — and off the public market London had hoped to win back.
Read more: cityam.com
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
