Canada's billionaire Weston family is closing in on a £7bn Boots deal that kills off any London stock market hopes

From the Newshound archive · first published 1 October 2026 · last updated 2 October 2026.

Sycamore Partners, the private equity firm, is in advanced negotiations to offload Boots to the Weston family's Canadian arm in a transaction valued at roughly £7bn, with a deal potentially finalised as early as next week. The sale would extinguish any prospect of a London stock market listing, landing another blow on the City's already fraught attempts to draw major companies to float. A previous Weston offer was turned down after the family cut its bid, and Australian pharmacy group Sigma Healthcare also walked away from negotiations over the summer before the Westons resurfaced as the leading contenders.

The Weston family previously sold Selfridges for £4bn in 2022 and holds ownership of Loblaws supermarkets and Shoppers Drug Mart in Canada.

A London IPO for Boots would have represented a rare victory for the City; AJ Bell analysts described a Weston deal as "a major blow to the London Stock Exchange."

Boots, founded in Nottingham in 1849, operates 1,800 UK stores and employs around 51,000 people, and recorded a 25% jump in pre-tax profits in its latest accounts.