Bidders for high street chemist Boots are set to meet with bosses this week as the takeover race intensifies.
Suitors for the chain, which has a £7bn price tag, include American private equity firms Apollo and Sycamore Partners, as well as new Asda owners TDR Capital and the billionaire Issa brothers.
Buyout consortium Bain Capital and CVC Capital declined to submit a first-round bid. The pair had initially been touted as frontrunners due to the involvement of CVC’s Dominic Murphy who is on the board of Boots’ owners Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA).
Bain and CVC could put in a bid if WBA was willing to entertain a lower price tag, The Sunday Times reported.
WBA said “four or five” interested parties are still in the running to take over the UK business from its American owners.
The sale will result in the breakup of the alliance that was formed in 2012 when Walgreens acquired a 45% stake in Boots and the remaining 55% two years later.
Walgreens began exploring the sale in December and is pushing ahead despite unstable market conditions.
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