Sycamore Partners' deal with Walgreens reportedly still possible

Walgreens Boots Alliance shares soared Tuesday after CNBC said that a take-private deal with private equity firm Sycamore Partners is still possible, per a Yahoo Finance report.

The report noted that CNBC's David Faber said a couple of weeks ago that the deal for Walgreens was reported to be “mostly dead." Today Faber said he was now upgrading the deal to “alive,” per the report, which also noted that Walgreens shares gained as much as 15% in New York and that they had risen 4% this year as of Friday’s close.

In December there were reports of a possible deal with Sycamore, which had earlier expressed interest in Walgreens’ international unit. Bloomberg reported at the end of last month that Sycamore had been speaking with private credit firms about debt financing for a potential deal for Walgreens, according to people familiar with the matter. Faber had said Jan. 27 that the deal was “mostly dead.”

[Related: Walgreens buyout talks reportedly unlikely to culminate in a deal]

A Sycamore spokesperson contacted by Drug Store News said Sycamore has no comment.

A Walgreens spokesperson contacted by DSN said Walgreens has no comment. 

[Related: Walgreens reportedly in talks to sell to private equity firm Sycamore Partners]