Boots, the 177-year-old UK pharmacy and health retailer, has been sold for $8.9bn (£6.7bn) to Canada's billionaire Weston family through their holding company Wittington Investments.
The deal transfers ownership from US private equity firm Sycamore Partners and the Pessina family, who had owned Boots for 18 months. Completion is expected in early 2027.
The sale covers Boots' retail operations in the UK and Ireland, Boots Opticians, No7 Beauty Company, and its Thailand and franchised businesses. Sycamore and the Pessina family will retain Boots' Mexican business, Farmacias Benavides, and Alliance Healthcare Deutschland in Germany. Wittington operates in partnership with Toronto-based Fairfax Financial Holdings.
Boots currently operates around 1,800 stores and employs 51,000 people. Its most recent annual results showed £7.5bn in sales, up 3.2% from 2024. The chain has closed hundreds of branches in recent years as remote working reduced city centre footfall, but remains a recognised British brand.
The Weston family owns Canadian grocery chain Loblaws and pharmacy business Shoppers Drug Mart. They previously owned London's Selfridges department store from 2003 to 2021, selling it for $4bn. The separate UK branch of the family holds majority stake in Associated British Foods, parent of Primark. The Westons ranked fifth on this year's Sunday Times Rich List with combined wealth of nearly £19bn.
Galen Weston will become Boots chairman. He signalled plans to upgrade stores and expand healthcare services, stating the family saw "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".
Retail expert Catherine Shuttleworth, chief executive of Savvy Marketing, said shoppers were unlikely to see immediate changes but should expect "an improved shopping experience as the new owners invest in the business" over time. She noted health and beauty represented "a massive area for growth" and said the repeated ownership changes in recent decades had been "an unhelpful distraction" for the business.