Ambani will become the owner of drug retailer company: Reliance closes to buy Walgreens Boots, offers binding offer

Asia’s richest businessman Mukesh Ambani has moved closer to acquiring the UK business of drug retailer Walgreens Boots Alliance. Reliance Industries (RIL) and US buyout firm Apollo Global Management have submitted binding offers for the acquisition. Bloomberg has published a report based on conversations with people related to this matter.

The proposal value of the boots is said to be more than £5 billion (about Rs 48,000 crore). People with knowledge of the matter have said that Walgreens wants a valuation of around £7 billion. Boots operates a network of over 2,200 stores across the UK. According to the report, the winner of the bid can be announced in the coming few weeks. Walgreen plans to retain some stake in the business after the deal.

Reliance and Apollo claim strong

Bloomberg had said in a report recently that apart from the consortium of RIL and Apollo Global Management, a consortium of Britain’s billionaire Issa Brothers and TDR Capital were also in the race for acquisition. This consortium was the main competitor, but Issa Brothers felt the valuation of the boots too high and backed out. In such a situation, the possibilities of acquisition of boots of RIL and Apollo have increased a lot.