So who are the bidders for UK’s top pharmacy?
THE joint bid for Boots brings together the world’s sixth richest man and one of the most notorious private equity houses.
Tycoon Mukesh Ambani runs the sprawling Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, founded in 1966 by his late father Dhirubhai.
The massive empire has £60bn in annual sales through businesses spanning petrochemicals, oil and gas, telecoms and retail.
Reliance’s focus has historically been on oil and gas but Ambani has recently invested heavily in renewable energy and wants India to become a green energy superpower.
The empire also includes India’s biggest retailer Reliance Retail, which includes grocers, fashion outlets and electronics stores.
And Ambani has been beefing up Reliance’s presence in consumer goods and technology and in 2019 bought toy store Hamleys for £68m. The 65-year-old has a string of interests outside of Reliance including Football Sports Development, which owns the Indian Super League, the country’s top tier football league.
He has a fortune of £83bn, according to Forbes, and as of yesterday was India’s richest person and the sixth wealthiest in the world. He is married to philanthropist, art collector and the owner of the Indian Premier League cricket team Mumbai Indians, Nita Ambani. The couple have two sons, Akash and Anant, and a daughter, Isha, who is Akash’s twin. Isha’s 2018 marriage to billionaire Ajay Piramal’s son drew 10,000 guests, including Hillary Clinton. Ambani has teamed up with New York-based private equity giant Apollo, which manages £70bn worth of assets around the world. Apollo was founded in 1990 by Leon Black, Marc Rowan, Antony Ressler and Josh Harris.
Black stepped down last year from all his leadership roles at the firm following an outcry after revelations he paid Epstein $158m between 2012 and 2017 to handle art transactions and give tax advice.
Apollo has invested £450m in Czech lottery operator Allwyn, which in March was named as the preferred bidder to run the National Lottery by the Gambling Commission.