Walgreens in talks to be taken private by Sycamore Partners, source says

Dec 10 (Reuters) - Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA.O), opens new tab is in talks to sell itself to private equity firm Sycamore Partners, according to a person familiar with the matter, the latest attempt by the pharmacy chain operator to go private after a sharp slump in share value.

Walgreens has been working with its advisers over the past few weeks and had also reached out to other potential buyers but is currently in talks with only Sycamore, the source said.

A potential deal is most likely to be signed by early next year, the source said.

Walgreens and Sycamore declined to comment.

Shares of the second-largest U.S. pharmacy chain operator were up nearly 23% in afternoon trading following the news.

If the talks are successful, this would be Sycamore's biggest deal as Walgreens has a nearly $8 billion valuation. The pharmacy chain operator also had long-term debt of $8.04 billion, as of Aug. 31.

Walgreens had previously attempted to go private in 2019 when it was valued at more than $55 billion but was unsuccessful. Private equity group KKR had also approa...
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