Walgreens Boots Alliance has a presence in more than 25 countries, employs more than 440,000 people and has more than 18,750 store locations.

DEERFIELD, IL—New York City private equity firm KKR has, according to multiple published reports, formally approached drug store chain Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. to take the company private in what could be a record-breaking transaction.

If a deal is consummated, it would likely be the largest leveraged buyout in history as Walgreens Boots has a market value of approximately $56 billion and has nearly $17 billion of debt.

Bloomberg News first reported the discussions between KKR and Walgreens Boots. The largest leveraged buyout on record is the 2007 sale of utility TXU Corp. to KKR and TPG, a transaction valued at approximately $45 billion including debt, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

In late October, Walgreens Boots reported Fiscal 2019 net earnings decreased 20.7% to $4.0 billion, while net earnings per share decreased 14.6% to $4.31, compared with the prior year.

The company's Fiscal 2019 fourth quarter net earnings fell 55.2% to $677 million compared with the same quarter a year ago, while net earnings per share decreased 51.4% to $0.75 compared with the same quarter a year ago. These results reflect higher charges as the company accelerated its Transformational Cost Management Program.

Sales in the fourth quarter were $34.0 billion, an increase of 1.5% from the year-ago quarter.

Walgreens Boots Alliance has a presence in more than 25 countries, employs more than 440,000 people and has more than 18,750 store locations.

Instant Insights /

Report: KKR Approaches Walgreens Boots on Record Buyout Deal

Related Stories

Recommended For You