Boots sold to the Weston family behind Primark in an $8.9bn deal

Boots has been sold to Wittington Investments, the holding company of Canada's Weston family, in a US$8.9bn deal. The transaction transfers the UK and Ireland health and beauty retailer's operations away from its current owners, removing private equity firm Sycamore Partners and Stefano Pessina from the company.

The former Executive Chairman of Walgreens Boots Alliance had, with Sycamore, acquired WBA only last year, a move that carved Boots out as a standalone business. Now Pessina's 20-year association with the retailer is ending, as he and his family hand it to new ownership.

The purchase takes in far more than the pharmacy chain. Boots' own-brand beauty line No7 is included, as are Boots Opticians and the company's business in Thailand. The franchised operations also move across, giving Wittington Investments the whole of the Boots footprint rather than a single market.

Alex Baldock, chief executive of Boots, framed the sale in terms of what lies ahead. "For all of our social impact and commercial success to date, the opportunity ahead is even greater," he said. "I look forward to making the most of that opportunity and building a world-class Boots."

The buyer is no stranger to retail. The Canadian Weston family owns grocery chain Loblaw and the pharmacy chain Shoppers Drug Mart in its home market, and previously owned the UK luxury department store Selfridges. A separate branch of the family holds a stake in Associated British Foods.

That holding, the UK side of the family, is behind Primark through its own company. The two wings of the Weston dynasty therefore now span grocery, pharmacy and value fashion on both sides of the Atlantic, with Boots joining a portfolio already crowded with household names.

What changes when it closes

Galen Weston, chairman of Wittington Investments, will also become chairman of Boots once the deal completes. That handover is expected in the first quarter of 2027, subject to regulatory approval, putting a Weston at the head of the business from the outset rather than at arm's length.

Weston described Boots as "one of Britain's most enduring businesses, with a rich heritage, a trusted name and a vital role in everyday life across the UK and Ireland." He added that his family has "great respect for Boots' legacy and leading market position."

His plans are explicit about the long term. "We see a meaningful opportunity to make a great business even better through stable long-term ownership, further capital investment, and the renewed operating focus required to serve customers with excellence for generations to come," Weston said.

For Pessina the parting carries a personal note. "It has been one of the privileges of my and Ornella's life to have been so closely associated with Boots over the last 20 years," he said, referring to Ornella Barra, Boots Group Chairperson and former chief executive of the company.

He described Boots as "an iconic brand and a British institution" and said he is "delighted to be passing on a thriving Boots to strong and reliable owners who understand the value of its great heritage." His thanks went to "all on the Boots team who helped us deliver so much."

The parts the Pessoas keep

Not everything Pessina holds is leaving with this deal. He and his family will retain ownership of The Boots Group's other interests in Farmacias Benavides and Alliance Healthcare Deutschland, both of which they acquired as part of the Walgreens Boots Alliance transaction.

That split leaves Pessina with the pharmacy and wholesale assets he picked up in the WBA purchase while releasing the high-profile consumer-facing Boots name to the Westons. It is a cleaner division than the single acquisition implied a year ago, when the whole group changed hands together.

Completing in the first quarter of 2027, the sale still faces a regulatory review before the Westons take charge of the retailer and its No7 brand.

The size of the price, US$8.9bn, marks one of the larger transactions in UK health and beauty retail in recent years. It values the combined Boots business, spanning its stores, opticians, Thailand operations and the No7 Beauty range, as a single going concern for the Westons to build on.

For the Weston family the deal extends a pattern of buying well-known retail names and holding them for the long term, the approach they have pursued with Loblaw and Shoppers Drug Mart in Canada. Boots now joins that stable under the same ownership philosophy.

Regulatory approval is the remaining step before the first-quarter 2027 closing. Once it arrives, Galen Weston takes the chairman's seat and the retailer passes fully from Sycamore Partners and the Pessina family to Wittington Investments, ending one chapter and opening the next.

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Image: Boots