Sycamore Partners agrees $8.9bn Boots exit to Wittington Investments

Canada's Weston family has agreed to buy Boots from Sycamore Partners and the Pessina family for $8.9bn, a figure Law360 describes as including debt. Wittington Investments, the family's holding company, takes control of Boots' UK and Ireland retail operations, Boots Opticians, No7 Beauty Company and the Thailand and franchised businesses. Toronto-based Fairfax Financial Holdings is partnering on the purchase. Completion is expected in the first quarter of 2027.

Galen Weston, chairman of Wittington, will become chairman of Boots. Sycamore and the Pessina family keep the other Boots Group businesses, including Farmacias Benavides and Alliance Healthcare Deutschland. Skadden is named in Law360's headline as leading for the Westons.