​Boots owner considers taking the pharmacy chain private

The health and beauty retailer, which has a market worth of over $55bn, has been in preliminary talks with private equity firms over recent months discussing what would be one of the biggest ever leveraged buyouts, according to Reuters.

Walgreens has brought in investment bank Evercore Partners to examine whether the deal can be done. However, sources close to the situation told Reuters a deal was far from certain.

If a deal was to go through, a leveraged buyout would require the involvement of several private equity firms willing to invest huge sums of money.

These ‘club deals’ were popular before the 2008 financial crisis but since many of the takeovers have collapsed, investors are not as keen on joining forces with other firms.

Last month, Walgreens Boot Alliance recorded a fall in full-year profits despite increased sales in what chief executive Stefano Pessina described as “a challenging operating environment”.

The group posted a 20.5% decline in operating income to $5bn (£3.9bn) in the year to August 31, down 9.6% on an adjusted basis to $6.9bn (£5.4bn).