The Canadian branch of the billionaire Weston family has agreed to buy Boots for US$8.9bn, or about £6.7bn. The purchase is being made through Wittington Investments, the family’s holding company, which is acquiring the chain from majority owner Sycamore Partners, a private equity firm, and the Pessina family.
Sycamore took control of Boots a year ago when it bought the former parent company, Walgreens Boots Alliance, and then split the group into separate divisions. Boots was founded in Nottingham in 1849 and today runs more than 1,800 stores in the UK. The deal covers its retail and pharmacy operations in the UK and Ireland, Boots Opticians, the No7 Beauty Company, and its businesses in Thailand and through franchises. The Westons first held talks over a purchase earlier in 2026, after the chain was put up for sale.
The acquisition marks the family’s return to British retail. Through Wittington, the Westons own Canadian grocery chain Loblaws and pharmacy business Shoppers Drug Mart. They sold the luxury department store Selfridges for £4bn in 2022. The family’s British arm is the majority owner of Primark through Associated British Foods, which also owns Twinings and Ryvita. Taken together, the Weston family ranks fifth on this year’s Sunday Times Rich List, with a combined fortune of almost £19bn.
Wittington is partnering with Toronto-based Fairfax Financial Holdings on the transaction, although Wittington will hold operational control. Fairfax’s investments include Sleep Country, Canada’s largest mattress retailer, which owns the UK brand Simba Sleep. Galen Weston, chairman of Wittington, will become chairman of Boots. He called it “one of Britain’s most enduring businesses” and praised the role it plays in daily life across the UK and Ireland. Alex Baldock, who was recently appointed chief executive of Boots, said the chain’s staff help millions of people lead longer, healthier and happier lives.
The deal still requires regulatory approval and is expected to complete in the first quarter of 2027. For the Westons, it adds one of the best-known names on the British high street to a portfolio that already includes Loblaws and Shoppers Drug Mart in Canada, and it gives the family’s Canadian branch a large UK business again four years after the Selfridges sale. For Sycamore, the sale comes a year after it took Boots private through the Walgreens Boots Alliance deal and broke the group into separate divisions, and it hands the 1,800-store chain to a family owner with long experience of running grocery and pharmacy businesses.
