WBA stock tumbles amid reports that sale deal is ‘dead’

Boots parent company Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) has seen its shares plummet amid reports that its talks to “sell itself” to a private equity firm are “mostly dead” and unlikely to result in a sale.

Walgreens Boots Alliance WBA
WBA declined to comment on “rumours and speculation"

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) this week (January 27) revealed that the rumoured talks for Boots’ parent company “to sell itself” to private equity firm Sycamore Partners are “unlikely to result in a deal”.

The report comes after CNBC financial journalist David Faber announced that his sources had informed him the rumoured deal between the two companies is “mostly dead”, according to the WSJ.

And the news caused WBA share prices to tumble, dropping as much as 10% on Monday morning, it said.

Read more: Boots remains tight-lipped over ‘fresh auction’ rumours

The WSJ had previously reported last month that WBA was in talks with Sycamore for “a deal that would take the pharmacy chain off the public market”.

Sources at the time had said that the deal “could be completed early next year”.

Sky News also reported at the time that Sycamore’s “$10 billion-plus takeover bid...is set to trigger a fresh auction of Boots”.

Read more: WBA sued for pharmacist pressure to dispense ‘millions of unlawful scripts’

The news outlet said it understood that the private equity firm “is expected to seek separate ownership for Boots if it succeeds in taking WBA…private”.

Sycamore this week (January 28) told C+D that it would not comment on the alleged developments and WBA also declined to comment on “rumours and speculation”.

Trading turmoil

It comes as WBA revealed earlier this month that it made a loss of $265 million in the first fiscal quarter of 2025.

The results show a shocking 296% increase in losses from the year-ago quarter, when losses stood at $67m.

WBA said at the time that the new results were “primarily driven by higher operating loss”.

Read more: Boots parent company losses plunge to $265m in first quarter

And less than a week later, the US government filed a nationwide lawsuit alleging that since 2012, WBA “knowingly filled millions of prescriptions that lacked a legitimate purpose”.

The civil complaint claimed that WBA “dispensed millions of unlawful prescriptions” including “dangerous and excessive quantities of opioids” and “early refills of opioids”.

And it said that “Walgreens systematically pressured its pharmacists to fill prescriptions quickly without taking the time needed to confirm each prescription’s validity”.

Sign in or register for free

Latest from Multiples

BREAKING: PDA Union recognition secured at Superdrug with 94% voting in favour

 
• By 
 • comment0

Some 94% of pharmacists and pharmacist trainees employed at Superdrug have voted in favour of the PDA representing employees at the company.

Tesco relaunches free blood pressure checks for shoppers

 
• By 
 • comment0

Tesco has partnered with the British Heart Foundation to launch a free NHS blood pressure check for shoppers to “help detect cases of undiagnosed high blood pressure and prevent cardiovascular events like heart attacks and strokes”.

‘Violently sick’: ‘Predatory’ pharmacist jailed for abusing two patients

 
• By 
 • comment0

A pharmacist who sexually assaulted two patients in pharmacy consultation rooms will serve two years in prison.

More from Business

breaking news

IN FULL: CPE sets out April to July ‘timeframe’ to deliver new contract

 
• By 
 • comment

The pharmacy negotiator has revealed that negotiations for this year and next year's funding deal may not be concluded and implemented until July.

exclusive

Multiple meltdown: How many branches of each chain survived 2024?

 
• By 
 • comment

While branch numbers at some multiples have remained steady over the last year, C+D analysis has found that others, notably Boots, have taken a hit.