These Boots are made for walking

How pharmacy chain could be carved out of Sycamore's branches

Hello Rainmakers,

The first FTSE 100 company to be acquired by private equity is on the block again.

Boots, a staple and reliable presence on the UK high street, keeps delivering. But what might happen next?

PLUS: We do need to remind you that it’s our Rainmakers conference in a couple of weeks time, don’t miss out.

Rainmakers 2025 – Wednesday 26 March, 2025 – and secure your place today.

Ronnie and Reggie, Liam and Noel, Rob and Kim Kardashian have more in common with the UK's best-known pharmacy chain than you'd imagine.

Y'see, the news this week that Nottingham-based Boots' parent company, Walgreens Boots Alliance, is about to change private equity owner, looks like bringing to an end an uncomfortable co-habitation between US-based Walgreens and its historic British counterpart.

Last July Rainmakers reported on a failed £5bn plan to sell Boots. It was the second time that the deal had fallen over and led to CEO Sebastian James falling on his sword after he decided that a second delay in selling or floating the firm was a pause too far.

The history of Boots goes back 176 years, providing stability and trust to its customers on the high street. But the last 20 years at the company have been anything but serene.

A quick history lesson: in 2006, The Boots Company merged with Alliance Unichem to form Alliance Boots. Fast-forward 12 months and Alliance Boots was bought out in a deal by private equity giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Stefano Pessina, who took the company private and moved its headquarters to Switzerland (its manufacturing campus remained in Beeston, on the outskirts of Nottingham).

It was the first-ever FTSE 100 company to be bought by a private equity firm.