US owner prepares ground for £400m sale of Coventry drug retailer

The US owner of Coventry-headquartered drug retailer LloydsPharmacy is exploring options to offload the chain.

Reports suggest that McKesson, a $29bn New York organisation, has instructed bankers to examine the viability of a sale of the pharmacy chain.

Sky News says that any sale could have “significant implications” for the UK’s high street pharmacy and drug distribution industry as McKesson is the biggest competitors to Nottingham-based Boots and its owner Walgreens Boots Alliance.

LloydsPharmacy has 1,400 sites across the UK and employs over 17,000 people. It became part of McKesson is 2016, when the US firm snapped up Celesio in a deal worth £5bn.

A Sky News source said any deal to sell LloydsPharmacy could be worth up to £400m.