Reliance Industries, headed by Mukesh Ambani, and Apollo Global Management, a US buyout firm, are preparing a concrete bid for Walgreens’ Boots Alliance Inc’s international chemist and drugstore businesses, known as Boots, according to individuals familiar with the situation. They indicated their binding proposal might be submitted as early as Friday.
According to people familiar with the transaction, Reliance-chances Apollo’s have improved in recent weeks after Bloomberg reported on May 26 that a competing consortium led by the billionaire Issa brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa, who own supermarket group Asda, and TDR Capital baulked at a request by Walgreens to increase their offer for the Boots drugstore chain, one of Britain’s most well-known retailers, and planned to withdraw from the race.
The Issa Brothers-led investor group, according to the article, might yet reenter the contest if it can strike a price agreement with Boots’ US parent Walgreens Boots Alliance.
In 2020, RIL paid approximately Rs 620 crore for the Chennai-based online pharmacy Netmeds. In addition, Ambani, the world’s eighth wealthiest man with a $99.7 billion net worth, is no stranger to acquiring international brands, having purchased the British toy retailer Hamleys for £67.96 million in an all-cash deal through RIL subsidiary Reliance Brands in 2019.
