// Boots sets May deadline for suitors to place final offers for takeover of retailer
// Suitors expected to make final proposals include Asda and Apollo Global Management
Boots has set a deadline of May 16 for potential suitors to place their final offers for the health and beauty retailer.
The company’s owner Walgreens Boots Alliance’s (WBA) has issued the deadline to bidders as it looks to offload the business with £7 billion price tag.
Suitors expected to make final proposals include Asda and Apollo Global Management.
READ MORE: Boots CEO insists there is still ‘a lot of interest’ in the group
India’s Reliance Industries – owner of Hamleys – was thought likely to table a standalone bid.
The news comes after an early frontrunner, a joint approach from Bain Capital and CVC Capital Partners, had withdrawn from the race.
Ornella Barra, one of the owners of Walgreens Boots Alliance, said earlier this year that an IPO had initially been eyed as a way to spin off the chain, before interest front makeover firms.
Last week, Boots chief executive Seb James said there is still “a lot of interest” in the retailer.
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