By Pamela Barbaglia

LONDON (Reuters – Britain’s largest pharmacy chain Boots set a February 24 deadline for indicative bids by a group of high-net-worth investors. The potential value of the 173-year-old firm could be as high at 8 billion pounds ($10.88 trillion), two sources said to Reuters.

U.S. pharmacy giant Walgreens will sell Boots to the American drugstore giant Walgreens. Walgreens has been backing Boots since 2012. It is expected that Walgreens will cash out on one of Britain’s most well-known retailers, with more than 2200 stores and 51,000 employees.

It will also cause the end of Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ):, which was established in 2014 after Walgreens gained full control of its health and beauty chain. The alliance created a global giant with total revenues of $132.5 million in 2021.

WBA declined comment. Rosalind Brewer (its Chief Executive Officer) stated that the company was undergoing a strategic review due to its increased emphasis on U.S. Healthcare. The process is still at the exploratory stage but we expect to move fast,” she stated.

Boots, valued at between 6 and 8 billion pounds is up for sale in an auction led by Goldman Sachs. The process targets financial investors who have a history of turnaround high-street retailers. Sources spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is confidential.

Sources said that TDR Capital, a private equity firm, has been working to acquire control of Boots. This will allow Asda to integrate Boots into its stores.

TDR was founded in 2002 by Manjit Dale, Stephen Robertson, and is currently under threat from CVC Capital Partners and Bain Capital. The consortium also includes U.S. investment companies Sycamore Partners, Advent, and Apollo.

U.S. buyout firm CD&R, which initially expressed interest in combining Boots with its own supermarket chain Morrisons, had to put its plans on hold after Britain’s competition regulator deepened its probe into the Morrisons takeover in January, banning any move by CD&R to integrate the UK grocer with other portfolio companies.

Sycamore Partners, Bain Capital and CD&R declined to comment while TDR, CVC, Advent and Apollo were not immediately available.($1 = 0.7352 pounds)