Walgreens is entering its private company era with Sycamore Partners’s take-private deal, announced in early March, to buy it for at least $22 billion. While getting off the public market can have its perks, analysts say the Walgreens Boots Alliance deal with the private equity (PE) firm could be risky, as it saddles the retail pharmacy giant with a significant amount of debt. Of the $22 billion involved in the deal, 83% (or roughly $18.3 billion) is debt from various banking partners including Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, according to an analysis from the nonprofit Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP). That’s more than twice the average debt level (41%) PE firms used to acquire companies in 2024, the report found.
Read the full article: Sycamore Partners’ Plan to Takeover Walgreens ‘Incredibly Risky,’ Analyst Says //
Source: https://www.healthcare-brew.com/stories/2025/04/15/sycamore-partners-takeover-walgreens-incredibly-risky