Apollo Global Management Inc. and Reliance Industries Ltd together have made a binding offer to acquire American company, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.’s Boots pharmacies unit and are said to be leading in the race. According to the sources, the bid from consortium of Apollo and Reliance has a complete financial backing.
The bidding process has been going on for several months since Walgreens Boots Alliance put up Boots pharmacies for sale late last year. However, there has not been any official announcement from either companies.
Walgreens Boots seeking an offer of around US $8.8 billion. However, industry experts have valued the company at less than $6.5 billion. Boots pharmacy has a presence in the UK, Ireland, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, as well as in Asia.
Boots pharmacy has more than 2000 stores in the UK, but majority of these need to be revamped in order to cater to the changing consumer habits. The sale of the stores have also been hit by the recent crisis of rising cost-of-living as well.
Boots is pharmacy-led health and beauty retailer, that has a mix of local community pharmacies to large destination health and beauty stores. Walgreens Boots Alliance is also leader in pharmacy-led, health and wellbeing retail.
