One potential buyer has pulled out of the race to acquire the Boots drugstore chain

The Australian pharmacy group Sigma Healthcare has decided not to acquire the drugstore chain Boots after all. This leaves the future of the British retailer shrouded in uncertainty.

IPO or sale?

Last week it was reported that investment fund Sycamore Partners, the owner of Boots—which had initially planned to take the drugstore chain public—was in talks with two potential buyers for the retailer, which has more than 1,800 stores in the UK. It now appears that one of those two has already broken off talks.