The private equity firm circling Boots the Chemist’s parent company is lining up financing from a syndicate of banks for a prospective $10bn-plus takeover deal.
Sky News has learnt that Sycamore Partners is arranging debt funding for a deal to buy Walgreens Boots Alliance, with Bank of America, JP Morgan and Wells Fargo among those understood to be in the frame.
If completed, a takeover would see Sycamore take one of the biggest providers of retail pharmacy services in the US and Britain private.
It would almost certainly pave the way for an onward sale of Boots, which employs more than 50,000 people in Britain and trades from about 1,900 shops.
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Earlier this week, Sky News reported that Stefano Pessina, the arch-dealmaker who has led a string of major deals involving Boots over the last two decades, could end up as the majority-owner of one of Britain’s most prominent retailers.
Sycamore would be expected to sell both Boots and VillageMD, the doctor-staffed chain of clinics, according to one industry source.
Walgreens had already been considering options for its interest in VillageMD.
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The Wall Street Journal revealed on Tuesday that Sycamore Partners was in talks to buy WBA, which has seen its market value plummet to less than $8bn in recent months before rebounding on news of the talks.
Mr Pessina, who holds a roughly-17% stake in WBA, may end up as the principal owner of Boots depending on how the deal with Sycamore is structured.
WBA has orchestrated, and terminated, at least two processes to explore a sale of Boots in the last few years, deciding that offers from parties including Apollo Global Management did not offer sufficient value.
Boots recently appointed a new boss after Seb James, its long-serving managing director, resigned for a new role in the healthcare industry.
The company’s heritage dates back to John Boot opening a herbal remedies store in Nottingham in 1849.
It opened its 1000th UK store in 1933.
Sycamore declined to comment.