Boots chief executive Richard Baker and chairman Nigel Rudd joined Alliance UniChem's executive deputy chairman Stefano Pessina on an investor roadshow. But the meetings to gain shareholder support appear to have failed.
One institutional investor with a significant stake in Boots, who asked not to be named, said: 'Shareholders hope someone will bid for Boots. We want a private equity bid - someone who can buy the whole company - and inject retail management and generate cash.'
Private equity giants Permira, Apax and KKR have all been linked to Boots.
The investor added: 'Now the Boots Healthcare International sale is complete, it is easier for a Boots takeover [to go ahead] because it is smaller and any buyer would only really be interested in its core business.'
The health and beauty retailer sold BHI to Reckitt Benckiser for£1.9 billion last week.
AXA Investment Managers has a 1.5 per cent stake in Boots. Its head of UK equities Stuart Fowler said he had heard enough from the retailer. 'A colleague was offered a second meeting with Boots this week, but we did not think it was necessary. We have concluded it is a somewhat defensive merger and not a rational move. It is difficult to see how Boots will make us money at the end,' he said.
Royal London Asset Management chief investment officer Robert Talbot said: 'Before the meeting we were pretty sceptical and we remain fairly sceptical. We are unconvinced of the merits of putting the companies together; it will dilute, but not solve, [Boots'] problems.'
The proposed group, to be called Alliance Boots, will be formed next year through a share exchange, giving Boots shareholders a 50.2 per cent stake and Alliance UniChem the rest.
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