Britain’s largest drugstore chain Boots has set a Feb. 24 deadline to receive indicative bids from a series of deep-pocketed investors that could value the 173-year-old firm at up to 8 billion pounds ($10.88 billion), two sources told Reuters.
The sale will see US drugstore giant Walgreens, which has backed Nottingham-based Boots since 2012, cashing out from one of Britain’s best-known retailers which operates more than 2,200 stores and employs about 51,000 people.
It will also lead to the dismantling of the Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), which was set up in 2014 when Walgreens took full control of the health and beauty chain, creating a global behemoth with overall revenues of $132.5 billion in 2021.
A spokesperson said on Jan. 11 that the company was undertaking a strategic review primarily focused on Boots, but also including skincare and cosmetics brand No7 which was launched by Boots in 1935.
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