Advertisement
Advertisement

India’s Reliance, Apollo Global plan joint bid for Walgreens’ Boots business

By:
Reuters
Updated: Apr 27, 2022, 19:06 UTC

(Reuters) -Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd and U.S. buyout firm Apollo Global Management are planning a joint bid for UK high street pharmacy chain Boots, a spokesperson for Apollo confirmed on Wednesday.

A gardener works next to a board of Reliance Industries Ltd at Gandhinagar in Gujarat

(Reuters) -Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd and U.S. buyout firm Apollo Global Management are planning a joint bid for UK high street pharmacy chain Boots, a spokesperson for Apollo confirmed on Wednesday.

The Financial Times, which first reported on the joint bid citing people familiar with the matter, said the deal would see Boots expand its presence into India, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. (https://on.ft.com/3vPItzo)

Both Reliance and Apollo would own stakes in Boots under the plan, although it is not clear whether the stakes would be of the same size, according to the FT report.

Reliance was not immediately available for comment, while Boots declined to comment.

Walgreens Boots Alliance put its Boots business up for sale after announcing a strategic review in January as the second-largest U.S. pharmacy chain renews its focus on domestic healthcare.

The owners of UK supermarket group Asda – brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa and private equity group TDR Capital – have also made an initial bid for Boots, which is valued at between 5 billion pounds and 6 billion pounds ($6.27 billion and $7.52 billion), the report said.

The 173-year-old Boots business spans across 2,200 stores in the United Kingdom, including pharmacies, health and beauty stores.

Reliance, owned by the country’s second-wealthiest man Mukesh Ambani, is India’s largest listed company by market value and operates businesses as diverse as oil and gas to retail chains and telecom networks.

Reliance, which has been on an acquisition spree over the last few years, bought iconic UK businesses including toy store Hamleys in 2019 and country club Stoke Park last year.

(Reporting by Leroy Leo and Amruta Khandekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni and Maju Samuel)

About the Author

Reuterscontributor

Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world’s largest international multimedia news provider reaching more than one billion people every day. Reuters provides trusted business, financial, national, and international news to professionals via Thomson Reuters desktops, the world's media organizations, and directly to consumers at Reuters.com and via Reuters TV. Learn more about Thomson Reuters products:

Did you find this article useful?

Advertisement