Toronto’s Weston family is expanding its retail empire with the acquisition of Boots, one of the U.K.‘s most prominent drugstore chains.
The family’s holding company, Wittington Investments, backed by Toronto-based Fairfax Financial, is purchasing Boots for $12.7 billion, including assumed debt.
The deal includes Boots’ retail stores in the U.K. and Ireland, its franchises, optical and beauty divisions, as well as its Thailand operations, according to a news release.
“We have great respect for Boots’ legacy and leading market position,” Galen Weston, who will become the company’s chairman once the acquisition closes, said in the release. “We see a meaningful opportunity to make a great business even better through stable long-term ownership, further capital investment, and the renewed operating focus required to serve customers with excellence for generations to come.”
The Westons are best known as the controlling family behind Loblaw Companies, which operates some of Canada’s largest grocery chains and owns Shoppers Drug Mart. The family also owns luxury retailer Holt Renfrew.
Boots employs more than 51,000 workers across over 1,800 storefronts — a business model similar to Shoppers Drug Mart.
When a Boots acquisition by the Westons was rumoured in late September, RBC Capital Markets analyst Irene Nattel said she thought the deal made sense.
“We believe there is substantial organizational knowledge and understanding of retail pharmacy within the Weston family of businesses and investments, knowledge that would prove extremely useful should a transaction come to fruition,” she wrote in a Sept. 30 note to investors.
Nattel said she didn’t see a potential deal as having much impact on companies owned by the Westons, such as Loblaw, if it were completed through Wittington.
As part of the agreement announced Wednesday, Sycamore Partners — alongside Italian businessman Stefano Pessina, will retain ownership of other Boots-affiliated groups, including Farmacias Benavides and Alliance Healthcare Deutschland.
The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to be finalized in the first quarter of 2027.
With files from The Canadian Press.
This is a developing story.
