Stefano Pessina and Walgreens

Walgreens: Yesterdays completion of the deal sees Alliance Boots boss Stefano Pessina take home a staggering 3bn after buying Boots in a highly leveraged takeover in 2007. Along with private equity owners KKR, he invested 1.25bn four years ago, according to The Independent. Yesterdays deal sees Walgreens snap up the 55 per cent of Alliance it did not already own for 6bn, with around half being used to pay down debts and the remainder paid out in cash to KKR and in shares to Mr Pessina. Both shared about 2.5bn when the first 45 per cent was sold in 2012 for 4.3bn and Walgreens bosses insisted that staying in the US was the right decision because of potential tax investigations by US authorities and an expected consumer backlash which has hit other firms moving their tax domicile to cheaper locations like the UK. But investors were unimpressed and shares tanked 16 per cent. The 73-year-old will remain heavily involved with the running of the new company Walgreens Boots Alliance, becoming the biggest shareholder and executive vice-president responsible for strategy and future takeovers. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.