Boots, the 177-year-old High Street pharmacy and retail chain, has been sold to Canada's billionaire Weston family in an $8.9bn (£6.7bn) deal, Wittington Investments confirmed Wednesday.
The acquisition ends an 18-month ownership by US private equity firm Sycamore Partners and the Pessina family. The deal covers Boots' retail operations in the UK and Ireland, Boots Opticians, No7 Beauty Company, and its Thailand and franchised businesses. Completion is set for early 2027.
The Weston family, ranked fifth on this year's Sunday Times Rich List with a combined fortune of almost £19bn, operates Canadian grocery chain Loblaws and pharmacy business Shoppers Drug Mart. The family previously owned Selfridges from 2003 to 2021, selling it for $4bn. A separate UK branch of the Weston family majority-owns Associated British Foods, parent firm of Primark.
Wittington will hold operational control alongside Toronto-based holding company Fairfax Financial Holdings. Sycamore Partners and the Pessina family retain Farmacias Benavides in Mexico and Alliance Healthcare Deutschland in Germany.
Boots operates roughly 1,800 stores and employs 51,000 people across the UK. The chain generated £7.5bn in sales in its most recent annual results, a 3.2% increase on 2024, despite closing hundreds of branches as shoppers shifted to remote work.
Newly appointed chairman Weston signalled plans for store upgrades and expanded healthcare services. "We see a meaningful opportunity to make a great business even better through stable long-term ownership, further capital investment, and the renewed operating focus required to serve customers with excellence for generations to come," he said.
Retail expert Catherine Shuttleworth, chief executive of savvy marketing, said shoppers were unlikely to see immediate changes but could "expect over time an improved shopping experience as the new owners invest in the business". She noted health and beauty represented "a massive area for growth" and that fresh investment would help. Shuttleworth added that ownership chopping and changing had been "an unhelpful distraction".
Boots, founded in 1849 as a herbalist store in Nottingham offering affordable alternatives to traditional medicines, expanded to sell health products, optical and hearing services, and general retail items. It launched its Advantage Card loyalty scheme in 1997.