Supermarkets may check out Boots

BOOTS could be a target for Britain’s biggest retailers after the chemist drafted in bankers to speak to potential buyers.

Goldman Sachs has been appointed to oversee a possible sale that could value the high street chain at £5 billion, it emerged on Friday evening.

Sources said supermarkets Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons and online giant Amazon could be interested in its 2,200 pharmacies to get better access to local communities for customer deliveries and shops.

It will attract the attention of private equity firms, including Apollo and Fortress which recently checked out Morrisons, after a year of frenzied deal making.

Boots, which is run by Sebastian James and owned by US giant Walgreens, has in the past been accused of failing to invest in stores. But Sky News, which first reported the possible sale, said it had renewed investment and refurbished some shops.

Walgreens declined to comment but said its new strategy, revealed in October, ‘includes a more pointed focus on North America and on healthcare’. It added Boots is an ‘important part of the group’.