(Bloomberg) -- Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. has kicked off the sales process for its Boots international drugstore unit as fresh buyout firms, including Sycamore Partners, consider bids, said people with knowledge of the matter.
The U.S. company is sending out preliminary information on the business to potential suitors ahead of first-round bids due in the coming weeks, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Boots, which mostly operates pharmacies in Britain, could be valued at as much as 7 billion pounds ($9.6 billion) in a sale, Bloomberg News has reported.
Sycamore, a private equity retail specialist, has joined a small group of other buyout firms exploring bids, the people said. The business could also attract interest from TDR Capital and the Issa brothers, who bought U.K. grocer Asda Group Ltd. last year, the people said.
They would be competing with Bain Capital and CVC Capital Partners, who’ve teamed up and are considered early favorites, people familiar have previously said. Advent International and KKR & Co. are also studying potential bids, people said at the time.
Advent, KKR Said Among Buyout Firms Studying Bids for Boots Walgreens is also considering a potential initial public offering of Boots if buyout interest is muted, the people said. Deliberations are ongoing, and there’s no certainty they will lead to a transaction, the people said. A representative for Walgreens, Sycamore and TDR declined to comment.
Boots runs a chain of roughly 2,200 stores in the U.K. that includes brands such as No7 Beauty Company. It also has smaller operations in Ireland, Norway, the Netherlands and Thailand, as well as an optician business and a suite of private-label beauty and personal-care brands that could be included in a sale.