Shares of Walgreens have jumped 21% on the news.

Walgreens is in talks to sell itself to a private-equity firm in a deal that would take the pharmacy chain off the public market after its shares have been on a downward slide for nearly a decade.

Walgreens Boots Alliance and Sycamore Partners have been discussing a deal that could be completed early next year, assuming talks don’t fall apart, according to people familiar with the matter.

Walgreens’s market value reached a peak of over $100 billion in 2015 but has since shrunk to around $7.5 billion. Mounting pressures on both its pharmacy and retail businesses have helped send its shares down nearly 70% so far this year.

Any deal would be a big bite for Sycamore, a New York-based firm that specializes in retail and consumer investments and more recently is better known for smaller deals. The firm would likely sell off pieces of the business or work with partners, one of the people said. 

Wall Street Journal (Free Link)