Boots is one of the most trusted names on the British high street — a pharmacy, beauty, and health retailer that has been part of everyday life in the UK for over 177 years. Most people in Britain have picked up a prescription there, grabbed a meal deal at lunch, or stocked up on No7 skincare.
But the question of who actually owns Boots has never been more dramatic than it is right now. Just yesterday — on October 7, 2026 — it was announced that Boots has been sold again, this time to a Canadian billionaire family, in a deal worth $8.9 billion. The ownership story of Boots is one of the longest, most eventful, and most genuinely surprising in all of British retail.
Who Owns Boots Right Now in 2026?
As of October 7, 2026, Boots has been acquired by Wittington Investments Limited — the holding company of Canada’s Weston family — in partnership with Toronto-based Fairfax Financial Holdings. The deal, valued at $8.9 billion (approximately £6.7 billion), was announced yesterday and is expected to close in early 2027, pending regulatory approvals.
Wittington Investments is buying Boots’ retail operations in the UK and Ireland, Boots Opticians, the No7 Beauty Company, and its Thailand and franchised businesses.
Wittington will hold operational control of Boots, with Galen Weston — Wittington’s chair — set to become Boots’ chair upon completion. Fairfax Financial Holdings is a co-investor in the deal but does not hold operational control.
Boots was previously owned by Sycamore Partners — a New York-based private equity firm — alongside Stefano Pessina and his family, who retained their stake after Sycamore acquired the parent company Walgreens Boots Alliance for $10 billion in August 2025.
Under the new deal, Sycamore and Pessina will retain ownership only of the Boots Group’s international interests in Farmacias Benavides in Mexico and Alliance Healthcare Deutschland in Germany — those pieces are not part of the Wittington purchase.
Ownership and Key Stakeholders Table
| Owner / Party | Role | Stake | Key Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wittington Investments Limited | New Acquirer (deal pending) | 100% of Boots UK/Ireland operations | Weston family holding company; deal announced October 7, 2026; closes early 2027 |
| Fairfax Financial Holdings | Co-Investor | Minority co-investment stake | Toronto-based holding company; Wittington retains operational control |
| Galen Weston | Incoming Chair of Boots | No separate ownership stake | Wittington’s chair; will become Boots’ chair upon deal closing |
| Sycamore Partners | Outgoing Majority Owner | Exiting UK/Ireland Boots operations | NY-based PE firm; acquired WBA for $10B in August 2025; retaining Farmacias Benavides & Alliance Healthcare Deutschland |
| Stefano Pessina & Family | Outgoing Co-Owner | Retaining Farmacias Benavides & Alliance Healthcare Deutschland only | Italian billionaire; former Boots chairman; held stake since 2007 KKR buyout |
| Ornella Barra | CEO of The Boots Group | Management role | Stefano Pessina’s partner and wife; appointed CEO of The Boots Group after Sycamore’s WBA acquisition in 2025 |
| No7 Beauty Company | Included in deal | 100% under Boots | Boots’ leading beauty brand; part of the Wittington acquisition |
| Boots Opticians | Included in deal | 100% under Boots | Optical retail division; part of the Wittington acquisition |
Who Are the Weston Family — The New Owners of Boots?
The Weston family is one of the most powerful retail dynasties in the history of Canada — and now, with this acquisition, one of the most powerful in British retail too.
The Weston family’s retail empire is built around George Weston Limited, which controls Loblaw Companies Limited — Canada’s largest food retailer — and Shoppers Drug Mart, Canada’s largest pharmacy and health-and-beauty business.
The family’s holding company, Wittington Investments, also holds a significant stake in Associated British Foods (ABF) — the parent company of Primark (one of the UK’s biggest value clothing retailers) and the maker of Twinings tea, Ovaltine, Mazola, and Fleischmann’s yeast. The Weston family previously owned London’s iconic Selfridges department store from 2003 to 2021, selling it for $4 billion.
The Boots acquisition is a natural strategic fit. Boots and Shoppers Drug Mart are remarkably similar businesses — both are large-format pharmacy chains with strong beauty and health-and-wellness retail operations, loyalty programs, and dominant positions in their respective home markets.
The Weston family said in their announcement that “we see a meaningful opportunity to make a great business even better through stable long-term ownership, further capital investment, and the renewed operating focus required to serve customers with excellence for generations to come.”
That phrase — “stable long-term ownership” — is pointed. It is a deliberate contrast to the private equity model of Sycamore Partners, and it signals that the Weston family intends to hold Boots as a generational asset rather than a medium-term investment to be flipped for profit.
The Origin Story: A Herbalist’s Shop in 1849 Nottingham
The story of Boots begins not in a corporate boardroom but in a small herbalist’s shop on Goose Gate in Nottingham, opened in 1849 by a man named John Boot.
John Boot was born in 1815 in Radcliffe on Trent and became passionate about herbal medicine. In 1849, he opened his shop in Nottingham selling affordable herbal remedies to working-class customers who could not afford traditional medicines or qualified doctors. It was a genuinely radical act of commercial compassion for its time — making healthcare accessible to people who had previously been priced out of it.
John Boot died in 1860, leaving behind his wife Mary and their 10-year-old son Jesse. Together, Mary and young Jesse kept the shop running — Jesse left school in 1863 to help his mother full-time, and later became her business partner.
By the time Jesse Boot took full control as an adult, he had a vision far grander than one herbalist’s shop: he wanted to make quality medicines available to ordinary people at prices they could actually afford.
Jesse Boot became one of the great retail entrepreneurs of the Victorian era. He opened stores across Britain, pioneered mass production of pharmaceutical products, and turned Boots into a genuine national institution.
By 1891, Boots had opened a major flagship store on Pelham Street in Nottingham, featuring electric lighting and the city’s first hydraulic lift. Jesse’s son, John Boot (later Baron Trent), further expanded the company and introduced the famous Boots No7 skincare range in the 1930s — a brand that remains one of Britain’s most trusted beauty labels to this day.
The founding story of Boots — a single herbalist determined to make healthcare accessible to everyone — is every bit as compelling as the stories behind other iconic consumer brands, like who owns Hobby Lobby or who owns Panera Bread.
The Full Ownership Timeline: 177 Years of Change
Boots has been through more ownership changes than almost any other brand of its age. Here is the complete journey.
1849 — John Boot opens his first herbalist shop in Nottingham. 1860 — John Boot dies; his widow Mary and son Jesse continue the business. 1888 — The business is incorporated as Boot and Co. Ltd, later renamed Boots Pure Drug Company Ltd. 1920 — Jesse Boot, concerned about succession, sells the company to the United Drug Company of America — one of the earliest examples of an American company acquiring a major British retailer.
1933 — Jesse’s son John Boot buys the company back for the British interest, renaming it The Boots Company Limited in 1971. 1979 — Boots expands into Canada by purchasing the Tamblyn Drugs chain.
2006 — Boots merges with Alliance UniChem to form Alliance Boots. 2007 — Alliance Boots is taken private by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) and Stefano Pessina in a £12.4 billion deal — the first time a FTSE 100 company had been bought by a private equity firm.
The headquarters are moved to Switzerland. 2012 — Walgreens acquires a 45% stake in Alliance Boots.
2014 — Walgreens completes its full merger with Alliance Boots, forming Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) and making Boots a subsidiary of an American pharmacy giant.
August 2025 — Sycamore Partners completes a $10 billion acquisition of Walgreens Boots Alliance and spins Boots off as a standalone private company called The Boots Group. October 7, 2026 — Wittington Investments (Weston family) announces its $8.9 billion acquisition of Boots, expected to close in early 2027.
Stefano Pessina: The Man Who Transformed Boots
No article about Boots ownership is complete without a proper look at Stefano Pessina — the Italian billionaire who has been the most influential private figure in the brand’s modern history.
Stefano Pessina was born on 4 June 1941 in Pescara, Italy, and studied nuclear engineering before pivoting to his family’s pharmaceutical wholesale business.
He built that business into Alliance Santé, then merged it with UniChem to form Alliance UniChem in 1997. When Alliance UniChem merged with Boots Group PLC in 2006 to form Alliance Boots, Pessina became executive deputy chairman of the combined company.
In 2007, Pessina and KKR took Alliance Boots private in a £12.4 billion leveraged buyout — one of the largest private equity deals in European history at the time. When Walgreens merged with Alliance Boots to form Walgreens Boots Alliance in 2014, Pessina became its CEO — a position he held until stepping back to executive chairman in 2020.
Throughout all of these transactions, he retained a personal equity stake in the business. Under Sycamore’s 2025 acquisition of WBA, Pessina retained a co-ownership stake alongside Sycamore — and now, under the Wittington deal, he exits only the UK/Ireland operations while retaining Farmacias Benavides and Alliance Healthcare Deutschland.
Pessina is one of the most consequential figures in European retail and pharmaceutical history — the person who, more than anyone else, shaped what Boots became in the 21st century.
What Does Boots Own Beyond Its UK Stores?
Boots is far more than the familiar green-and-white pharmacy stores on British high streets. The brand encompasses a significant portfolio of businesses and products.
The No7 Beauty Company — included in the Wittington acquisition — is one of Britain’s most trusted skincare and cosmetics brands, sold at Boots stores and internationally through partners including Target in the United States.
Boots Opticians provides eye tests and glasses across the UK. Boots Ireland operates the brand across the Republic of Ireland.
Boots also has a franchise model operating across the Middle East and Indonesia, and retail investments in China. The wider Boots Group — before the Wittington carve-out — had 3,912 shops worldwide, 66,400 employees, and annual sales of $23.6 billion.
In the UK alone, Boots operates approximately 1,800 locations, employs over 52,000 team members including 4,300 registered pharmacists, and is located within a 10-minute walk of 85.5% of all UK residents.
That level of physical proximity to the British public is an extraordinary commercial asset — one that the Weston family clearly recognized when they made their move.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q1. Who owns Boots in 2026?
As of October 7, 2026, Boots has been acquired by Wittington Investments — the holding company of Canada’s Weston family — for $8.9 billion, in a deal expected to close in early 2027.
Q2. Who was selling Boots to the Weston family?
Sycamore Partners — a New York-based private equity firm — and Stefano Pessina and his family were the sellers. Sycamore had acquired Boots as part of its $10 billion buyout of Walgreens Boots Alliance in August 2025.
Q3. Who founded Boots and when?
John Boot founded Boots in 1849 in Nottingham, opening a herbalist shop selling affordable remedies to working-class customers. His son Jesse Boot grew it into a national retail institution.
Q4. What does the Weston family own besides Boots?
The Weston family owns Loblaw Companies (Canada’s largest grocer), Shoppers Drug Mart (Canada’s largest pharmacy chain), and holds a significant stake in Associated British Foods, the parent of Primark and Twinings tea.
Q5. How many Boots stores are there in the UK?
Boots operates approximately 1,800 locations in the UK, employing over 52,000 people including 4,300 registered pharmacists, located within a 10-minute walk of 85.5% of all UK residents.
Q6. What is the No7 Beauty Company?
No7 is Boots’ flagship skincare and beauty brand, founded in the 1930s and now sold in Boots stores and internationally through retail partners including Target in the United States. It is included in the Wittington acquisition.
Q7. What happened to Boots under Walgreens?
Walgreens merged with Alliance Boots in 2014 to form Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), making Boots a subsidiary of an American pharmacy company. WBA was sold to Sycamore Partners for $10 billion in August 2025, after which Boots was spun off as a standalone entity called The Boots Group.
Q8. Who is Stefano Pessina and what is his connection to Boots?
Stefano Pessina is an Italian billionaire who co-led the £12.4 billion private equity buyout of Alliance Boots in 2007 alongside KKR. He later became CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance and has been an equity co-owner of Boots for nearly two decades. Under the Wittington deal, he exits only the UK/Ireland operations.
Boots — founded in Nottingham in 1849 as a herbalist’s shop serving working-class customers — is about to enter a completely new chapter under the Canadian Weston family.
The deal announced on October 7, 2026, sees Wittington Investments pay $8.9 billion (£6.7 billion) to acquire Boots’ UK and Ireland retail operations, Boots Opticians, the No7 Beauty Company, and its Thailand and franchised businesses from Sycamore Partners and Stefano Pessina’s family.
Galen Weston will become Boots’ new chair, and Wittington has committed to “stable long-term ownership” — a deliberate signal that this acquisition is about building something for generations, not turning a profit in three to five years.
After passing through the hands of Jesse Boot, United Drug Company of America, the Boot family again, KKR and Pessina, Walgreens Boots Alliance, and Sycamore Partners — Boots now belongs to a family with deep roots in Canadian pharmacy and grocery retail, and an equally long history of patient, long-term stewardship of iconic consumer brands.
