RIL-Apollo Global makes 5 bn pounds bid for Boots

New Delhi, June 9: Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries is said to have teamed up with US private equity fund Apollo Global Management to make a 5 billion pounds bid for the UK chemist chain Boots, people with knowledge of the matter said. US parent Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) will retain an unspecified minority stake as part of the deal, the people said.

It was not immediately clear how much stake Reliance and Apollo combine are picking up.

Reliance will add pharmacy and beauty retailing to its burgeoning retail business through the acquisition.

The oil-to-retail-to-telecom conglomerate is likely to expand Boots in India.

Reliance did not immediately respond to an email sent for comments.

Boots currently has a presence in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Thailand, and Indonesia.

It has over 2,200 stores, most of them old, in the UK that need investment for sprucing up as they struggle to deal with retailing shifting online.

Boots' US parent put the business up for sale in December to focus on in its domestic market.

Founded by Quaker John Boot in 1849, Boots has been in private hands since 2007 after it teamed up with Italian billionaire Stefano Pessina's Alliance Unichem.

WBA in 2017 sold off the Boots manufacturing business, including its Nottingham factory, to the France-based specialist Fareva.

Sources said private equity groups Bain Capital and CVC Capital Partners dropped out in the early part of the bid process. It was not known if another potential bidder—owners of UK supermarket group Asda, brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa and private equity group TDR Capital—have made a bid.