Reliance Industries is learnt to have bid for UK-based chemist chain Boots
New Delhi:
Reliance Industries along with US private equity fund Apollo Global Management is learnt to have made a 5 billion pounds bid for the UK-based chemist chain Boots, according to various media reports.
Let’s have a quick look at some key aspects of this high profile deal in 10 points.
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According to a PTI report, the chemist chain’s US parent Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) will retain an unspecified minority stake as part of the deal, people with direct knowledge of the deal, said.
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There is no clarity though, on how much stake Reliance and Apollo combine are picking up.
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Reliance will add pharmacy and beauty retailing to its burgeoning retail business through the acquisition. The oil-to-retail-to-telecom conglomerate is likely to expand Boots in India, PTI further reported.
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Boots currently has a presence in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Thailand, and Indonesia.
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It has over 2,200 stores, most of them old, in the UK that need investment for sprucing up as they struggle to deal with retailing shifting online.
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Boots’ US parent put the business up for sale last December to focus on healthcare in its domestic market.
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Founded by Quaker John Boot in 1849, Boots has been in private hands since 2007 after it teamed up with Italian billionaire Stefano Pessina’s Alliance Unichem.
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WBA in 2017 sold off the Boots manufacturing business. including its Nottingham factory, to the France-based specialist Fareva.
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Sources said private equity groups Bain Capital and CVC Capital Partners dropped out in the early part of the bid process.
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It was not known if another potential bidder – owners of UK supermarket group Asda, brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa and private equity group TDR Capital – have made a bid, the PTI report said.
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