Boots could potentially be sold or floated by the end of the year, according to new reports.
The health and beauty retailer's parent company Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) is said to be thinking about selling the company as it faces internal pressure to break up its global pharmacy business.
Investors and board members allegedly want WBA’s Executive Chairman Stefano Pessina and CEO Rosalind Brewer to refocus the company’s efforts on its US domestic market, reported This Is Money.
This is said to include moving America’s second largest pharmacy chain Walgreens, which it owns, away from traditional retail, focusing more on US private health care.
It would also mean separating off its international businesses, viewing Boots and other operations in Europe as a “distraction”, the report stated.
Pessina, who created the deals that originally brought Boots Alliance and Walgreens together in 2012 and 2014, is allegedly said to support splitting up the business but does not want to rush it.
This would be the second time WBA has tried to sell Boots, having put the company up for sale in January 2022 with a price tag of £7bn.
The sale was called off in June 2022 after failing to find a suitable buyer.
WBA said it would focus on the retailer’s growth and profitability instead.
Boots currently has more than 2,200 stores across the UK.
WBA was formed in 2014 and owns American beauty and health care chain Duane Reade, as well as Walgreens and Boots.