Australia’s Sigma drops out of talks to buy UK’s Boots

The Australian pharmaceutical group Sigma Healthcare has dropped its pursuit of the UK retail chain Boots, abandoning a takeover estimated to be worth $10bn (£7bn).Sigma, a wholesaler and retailer, said on Monday that a deal ​to buy the high street pharmacy business – which has 1,800 UK stores – would not meet its strategic ‌and capital investment objectives.Last week the Financial Times reported that Sigma had been in early talks for a potential acquisition of Boots, in a deal that could have valued the British health and beauty retailer at about $10bn.Shares in Sigma jumped 6% on Monday. “Investors appear to have breathed a sigh of relief,” said Marc Jocum, a senior product and investment strategist at Global X ETFs.He said the rally “suggests shareholders would rather see management focus on executing the opportunities already in front of them than ‌pursue another transformational deal of that scale”.“Sigma has many opportunities for growth and is confident in its established growth strategy, with a primary focus on the Australian market,” the company said in a statement, adding that overseas growth remains one of its key growth pillars.A deal would ⁠have expanded Sigma’s footprint in the UK market after its acquisition of a ​controlling stake in the pharmacy chain Greenlight Healthcare ​last month.Last ‌year, the company ​finalised a merger ​with Chemist Warehouse to create a A$30bn pharmacy and retail group. The value of the merger was A$8.8bn when the deal was announced in December 2023, but Sigma shares have increased more than threefold in value since then.Sigma’s withdrawal extends a lengthy period of uncertainty for the 177-year-old UK chain, which was originally put up for sale in 2022.The Canadian branch of the billionaire Weston family, who own the grocery chain Loblaws and the pharmacy chain Shoppers Drug Mart, were also interested in buying Boots, the FT reported.However, a sale would dash hopes that Boots could rejoin London’s struggling stock market. Reports that Alex Baldcock, the former boss of the listed retailer Currys, had been appointed as its new chief executive had fed expectations that the retailer wanted to return to the market.The company, which was founded in Nottingham in 1849 by John Boot, has changed hands several times in the past 20 years. After a merger with Alliance Unichem in 2006, the combined company was taken over by private equity firm KKR in 2007, before Walgreens first took a 45% stake in 2012 and then completed a takeover at the end of 2014.Today the business employs about 51,000 people – including about 6,000 at its headquarters in Beeston, three miles south-west of Nottingham. Boots reported last week that overall its revenues rose 3.2% to £7.5bn in the year to the end of August 2025, with pre-tax profit up by 25% to £337m. It said that strong demand for weight-loss jabs and beauty products helped boost its profits.A possible sale of Boots to the Canadian side of the Weston family would see them reappear in the UK’s retail sector, after they sold the department store Selfridges for £4bn in 2022.Reuters contributed to this report