Boots and its 2,200 stores could be bought by a joint venture between to private equity giants.
Bain Capital and CVC Capital Partners have teamed up to work on a planned bid for the UK high street chemist chain after its US owner hired advisers last month to explore options, including a sale. Talks are said to be at an early stage.
Bain and CVC believe Boots could be run more profitably as a separate enterprise than as an outpost of the Chicago-based Walgreens Boots Alliance.
CVC has a history of buying UK retailers, and was once the owner of Debenhams, piling debt onto the business and selling off its stores.
The joint bid could be complicated by the role of Dominic Murphy, a senior partner at CVC, who is also a director of Walgreens Boots Alliance.
Murphy is expected to absent himself from boardroom discussions about the prospective bid, according to Sky News, which first reported the story.
Murphy was an architect of the £11bn takeover of Alliance Boots by KKR, a private equity firm he previously worked for, in 2007.
Apollo Global Management and Fortress Group are also expected to take a tilt at Boots.
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