The American owner of Boots, Walgreens Boots Alliance, is understood to be reaching out to potential buyers of the UK health and beauty giant.
Walgreens Boots Alliance is working with advisers to hold preliminary discussions about a potential sale of Boots, Bloomberg reported. Boots could attract a £7bn price tag.
Walgreens has previously sought to offload Boots, and has considered an IPO for the retailer – an option thought still to be a possibility.
Earlier this year Walgreens chief executive Tim Wentworth, who took up the role in October last year, said he was “evaluating all strategic options” in order to “drive sustainable long-term shareholder value”.
Boots’ sale of its pension scheme late last year was widely seen as part of the positioning of the business for a sale or IPO.
In March, when it last updated, Boots reported a 12th consecutive quarter of growth as retail sales advanced 5.9%.
The potential sale of Boots comes after the recent flotations of other European beauty groups. German group Douglas floated, followed in the last few weeks by Puig, the Spanish owner of businesses including Charlotte Tilbury.
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