Retail’s last barbarian takes on Walgreens Boots

Behind the Money

Topher Forhecz

Markets, Investing, News, Banking, Finance, Business, Business News, Crypto

4.4 • 350 Ratings

🗓️ 26 March 2025

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Years ago, an ailing company like Walgreens Boots Alliance may have seemed like a prime acquisition target for deal-hungry private equity firms. But many have backed away from retail recently, leaving an opening for groups like Sycamore Partners who are willing to buck the trend. Sycamore announced this month that it would take the global pharmacy business private in a $23.7bn debt and equity deal. The FT’s Due Diligence reporter, Amelia Pollard, explains the well-worn playbook that Sycamore has used on past retail companies, and whether it will work this time with a chain that has its own share of unique problems.

Clips from Bloomberg, CNBC, CBS

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For further reading:

Retail’s last barbarian: the private equity group about to play hardball with Boots

What went wrong after Walgreens bought Boots?

Walgreens bondholders could be winners from its debt-laden buyout

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Follow Amelia Pollard (@ameliajpollard) on X or (@pollard.bsky.social) on Bluesky. Michela Tindera is on X (@mtindera07) and Bluesky (@mtindera.ft.com), or follow her on LinkedIn for updates about the show and more.

For more from Amelia and her team, sign up for the Due Diligence newsletter.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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Transcript

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0:00.0	It's a Thursday afternoon, and I'm standing outside on a street corner with my colleague Amelia Pollard.
0:08.4	We're in Manhattan. It's late March and super misty outside and pretty gross, honestly.
0:16.2	I'm with Amelia as she's about to run a quick errand inside of a Dwayne Reed shop.
0:21.2	Dwayne Reed is a part of the massive Walgreens Boots pharmacy chain.
0:26.1	And we wanted to be on the ground here and see what it's like inside and how the pharmacy
0:31.6	business is faring in Manhattan, at least.
0:33.9	We can't speak for the rest of the country, but we'll get a sense of what it's like inside here. And I'm going to buy some conditioner. Yeah, so going inside. Okay, let's see.
0:46.0	Where we should go. It's pretty MD. It's just before rush hour. Do you see where the
0:52.7	conditioner is? I do not.
0:55.0	There's looking at a poppy,
1:00.0	seltzer, and
1:03.0	Monster energy drinks and
1:07.0	Gatorades and Starbucks Rappuccinos
1:10.0	and bottles and Q-tips,
1:13.0	Evian water bottles, all the above.
1:15.9	We're still looking for a conditioner.
1:19.0	What you're hearing is a situation that might sound familiar to you.
1:23.6	Stopping in a pharmacy to pick up a quick item,
1:26.2	and maybe it's nowhere to be found.
1:29.1	Or maybe it's locked up behind a plexiglass case.
1:34.7	Is this it?
1:37.7	No, I think this is face wash.
	...

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