Weston family's Wittington to buy Boots from Sycamore in $8.9 billion deal

Wittington Investments, the holding company of Canada's billionaire Weston family, agreed on Wednesday to buy British pharmacy and beauty chain Boots from private equity firm Sycamore Partners and the family of Stefano Pessina in a deal valued at $8.9 billion, including assumed debt, or about £6.7 billion.

Wittington said it has signed a definitive agreement with The Boots Group. It will acquire Boots' retail operations in the UK and Ireland, Boots Opticians, the No7 Beauty Company, and its Thailand and franchised businesses. Fairfax Financial Holdings, the Toronto-based investment group chaired by Prem Watsa, is partnering with Wittington on the acquisition, and Wittington will have operational control once the deal closes. Closing is expected in the first quarter of 2027, subject to regulatory approvals and customary conditions.

Galen Weston, chairman of Wittington, will become chairman of Boots at closing. "Boots is one of Britain's most enduring businesses," Weston said in a statement. Wittington said it plans to keep investing in the chain, including by upgrading stores, improving the online experience and expanding healthcare services.

Sycamore and the Pessina family will keep The Boots Group's other interests, which include Farmacias Benavides in Mexico and Alliance Healthcare Deutschland in Germany. Sycamore completed its takeover of Walgreens Boots Alliance in August 2025 and later set up Boots as a standalone company, with the Pessina family remaining invested alongside it. The sale comes about a year after Sycamore's takeover.

Pessina, who took Boots private in 2007 with backing from KKR, called it "an iconic brand and a British institution."

Reports said talks reached an impasse in August after the Weston family lowered its offer and Sycamore rejected it, before they resumed. Sycamore had also considered a London stock market listing for Boots.

Boots was founded in Nottingham in 1849, has about 1,800 stores in the UK and employs about 51,000 people. It has changed hands several times in the past two decades, including through the 2007 KKR-backed buyout and Walgreens' takeover in 2014. Retail analyst Richard Hyman said the Westons were "the most encouraging ownership of Boots for many, many years." Boots has closed more than 300 stores in recent years.

The acquisition marks a return to UK retail for the Weston family's Canadian branch, which sold the Selfridges department store group for £4 billion in 2022. The family's British branch is a separate entity and controls Primark through Associated British Foods, which is led by George Weston. Through Wittington, the Canadian branch controls Loblaw, Canada's largest grocer, and Shoppers Drug Mart, the country's largest pharmacy chain.

Boots named former Currys chief executive Alex Baldock as its chief executive in September.