Wittington Investments, the Weston family's Canadian holding company, has agreed to buy Boots from Sycamore Partners for $8.9bn (£6.7bn), with Toronto-based Fairfax as its partner. The sale closes off a possible return to the London Stock Exchange for the high street chemist.
Boots has changed hands for the third time in under two decades. The pharmacy and beauty retailer, one of the largest names on the British high street, is passing from private equity to family ownership rather than back to public shareholders.
Wittington Investments, the vehicle that holds the Weston family's Canadian interests, said on Wednesday that it had agreed to acquire the business from Sycamore Partners. The price is $8.9bn, equivalent to about £6.7bn.
What is in the deal
The perimeter covers Boots' retail operations in the UK and Ireland, its opticians business, the No7 Beauty brand and its franchise operations in Thailand.
Two assets sit outside it. Stefano Pessina and his family, who built Boots into an international group, will keep the stakes in Mexican drugstore chain Farmacias Benavides and in pharmaceutical wholesaler Alliance Healthcare Deutschland.
Fairfax, the Toronto-based holding company chaired by Prem Watsa, is partnering with Wittington to complete the purchase. The split of equity between the two was not disclosed, and nor were the financing terms.
The ownership trail
Boots was the first blue-chip company to leave the London Stock Exchange through a private equity buyout, when Pessina and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts took it private in 2007.
Sycamore's ownership has been brief. Pessina partnered with the US firm on its $10bn acquisition from Walgreens Boots Alliance in August last year, and has since moved from executive chair to a director's seat.
The exit options had narrowed during 2026. Australian pharmacy group Sigma Healthcare withdrew from talks over a private sale earlier this year, which left an initial public offering and the Westons as the two remaining routes.
Who is buying
The Westons are among the world's wealthiest families. Their UK business holds a majority stake in FTSE 100 group AB Foods, the owner of Primark, while the Canadian side has built retail brands that include pharmacy and beauty.
Galen Weston, who chairs Wittington, will become chairman of Boots. He said the family saw scope to improve the business through stable long-term ownership, additional capital investment and a sharper operating focus.
Alex Baldock, who became chief executive of Boots only last month, remains in post. He said the opportunity ahead of the company was greater than what it had achieved to date.
What it means
For the London market, the outcome ends months of speculation that Boots would return to public ownership through a large listing.
For Sycamore, the sale crystallises an exit a little over a year after the Walgreens transaction, though the $10bn paid then covered a wider group than the assets now being sold. A completion timetable was not disclosed.
Original source: City AM — https://www.cityam.com/billionaire-weston-family-buys-boots-for-9bn/
