The other shoe drops. Clunk. Walgreens Boots Alliance is in talks to sell to private equity firm Sycamore Partners, according to the proverbial “people familiar with the matter” speaking with the Wall Street Journal. The deal could close as early next year.
WBA would exit public markets, where it is currently trading at a little over $10 for a market capitalization just short of $9 billion. Shares rose abruptly at about 1pm Eastern Time (NY).
It is quite a fall from its value even five years ago at close to $60/share. Other factors are their acquisition binge of latter years including Shields Health and VillageMD, as well as declining brick-and-mortar store sales.
According to the article, it would be a very large apple for Sycamore Partners to eat and digest. Sycamore has an aggregate committed capital of approximately $10 billion according to Transacted. It would be likely that some parts of the present Walgreens and WBA would be sold off or partners would be invited in, according to the WSJ’s ‘people familiar…’.
The house cleaning promised by CEO Tim Wentworth is coming to pass, fast, undoubtedly spurred by Stefano Pessina.
Walgreens is slated to report its next quarterly results on 9 January.
Hat tip to Endpoints. One of their reporters contacted Walgreens and received this response: “We don’t comment on rumors or speculation about our business.” a Walgreens spokesperson told Endpoints News.
This story is developing.
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