The deal details
The private equity firm Sycamore Partners is reportedly in advanced talks to sell Boots to the Canadian branch of the Weston family for $9bn (£7bn). A deal could be finalized as soon as next week, which would be a massive W for the Westons, who are already heavy hitters in the retail space. They own the grocery giant Loblaws and the pharmacy chain Shoppers Drug Mart back in Canada. If this goes through, it’s giving a major comeback energy—the family previously owned Selfridges before selling that off for £4bn in 2022.
How we got here
Sycamore Partners picked up the wider Walgreens Boots Alliance for $23.7bn back in 2025. Since then, they’ve been aggressively restructuring, splitting the massive group into five separate companies. This potential sale follows a failed attempt to offload Boots to the Australian group Sigma Healthcare earlier this summer in a $10bn deal that ultimately flopped.
Boots has been passed around like a hot potato for the last two decades. From its humble 1849 roots in Nottingham to KKR’s takeover in 2007 and the eventual acquisition by Walgreens, the brand has seen it all.
Why it matters
Boots is a total staple of the UK high street with 1,800 stores and about 51,000 employees. The business is actually doing pretty well—it reported a 25% jump in pre-tax profits to £337m this summer, largely driven by people snapping up beauty products and weight loss jabs. For the Westons, it’s a high-stakes play to cement their influence in the UK retail market once again.
