HedgeCo.Net — Wittington Investments, the private holding company of Canada’s Weston family, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Boots from Sycamore Partners and the Pessina family for total consideration of $8.9 billion, including assumed debt. The deal covers Boots’ retail operations in the U.K. and Ireland, Boots Opticians, No7 Beauty Company, and its Thailand and franchised businesses.
Fairfax Financial Holdings is partnering with Wittington on the purchase, with Wittington taking operational control at closing. In a statement, Fairfax said it has entered into an equity commitment letter to provide up to approximately $2.3 billion toward the purchase price and expects to own 50% of Boots’ equity once the transaction closes. Galen Weston, Wittington’s chairman, will become chairman of Boots.
Sycamore Partners, alongside Stefano Pessina and his family, will keep The Boots Group’s other interests, Farmacias Benavides in Mexico and German pharmaceutical wholesaler Alliance Healthcare Deutschland. CIBC and Morgan Stanley Senior Funding are lead arrangers providing the acquisition financing, while UBS and Rothschild & Co. are lead financial advisors to The Boots Group.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027. Sycamore re-established Boots as a standalone company roughly a year ago, and Sycamore managing director Stefan Kaluzny said the sale reflects the work the management team and more than 50,000 colleagues have done since then.
For private equity, the deal is a notable exit route: a long-term family holding company and an insurance-backed investor stepping in as buyers of a carve-out that a sponsor has spent a year separating. It also shows how sponsors can monetize a portion of a complex retail and wholesale group while retaining other assets, a structure that may appeal to other firms holding conglomerates acquired at scale.