The company said its board had elected to withdraw its interest and cease discussions immediately. Sigma's investor centre listed the June 15 withdrawal notice and an earlier June 10 statement on media speculation about the Boots process, confirming that the withdrawal followed a short public period of acknowledged talks.
Sigma said international growth remains one of its four strategic growth pillars. It also said it had recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Greenlight Healthcare in the United Kingdom and would continue to focus on core offshore markets and other opportunities that support long-term returns.
The Boots process initially fitted that international-growth screen, according to Sigma's own filing. The company said the Boots brand and store footprint presented a potential route to accelerate UK expansion, but that its preliminary review did not support continuing with the sale process under Sigma's present investment objectives.
The deal context remains partly based on reporting rather than a seller statement. The Financial Times reported on June 15 that Sigma had pulled out of talks over a possible $10 billion acquisition of Boots and that Canada's Weston family had also held talks for the UK pharmacy chain. The Wall Street Journal also reported Sigma's withdrawal and said the company had concluded the possible acquisition did not fit its strategic or capital-investment objectives.
Sigma did not disclose a proposed price, financing plan or detailed diligence findings in its ASX statement. It also did not name Sycamore Partners, Boots' owner, or any other bidders. Those details should therefore be attributed to the FT, the Journal or other named reports unless Boots or Sycamore publishes a statement.
The independent market view was that withdrawal reduced execution risk. Investing.com cited Macquarie analysts as saying the retreat was prudent because initial financial metrics looked relatively uncompelling and Sigma had a limited track record in the UK. MarketScreener quoted Marc Jocum, a senior product and investment strategist at Global X ETFs, as saying Sigma shareholders appeared to prefer management focusing on existing opportunities rather than another transformational deal of that scale.