Walgreens falls after sale of Boots U.K. chain terminated (update)
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Update 8:08am: Updates to add Walgreens confirmation of end of Boots sale process.
Walgreens (NASDAQ:WBA) fell 2.3% in premarket trading after the company confirmed that the sale of its Boots drugstore chain in the U.K. has been terminated due to the current change in financial markets.
"WBA has been encouraged by productive discussions held with a range of parties, receiving significant interest from prospective buyers," Walgreens said in a statement. "However, since launching the process, the global financial markets have suffered unexpected and dramatic change. As a result of market instability severely impacting financing availability, no third party has been able to make an offer that adequately reflects the high potential value of Boots and No7 Beauty Company."
The move to abandon the sale was reported earlier Tuesday by Sky News. The auction of drugstore/beauty chain "faltered badly" in recent weeks with the only bidder a consortium of Apollo Global (APO) and Reliance Industries, according to the report.
Walgreens had been in talks with a consortium between Reliance Industries Ltd. and Apollo over the Â£5.5 billion ($6.73 billion) sale of the British drugstore chain, according to media reports including Bloomberg. 
Bloomberg reported in late January that Walgreens was said to have started the sales process for its Boots chain in the U.K. after confirming it was considering selling the unit in January.
Sky News first reported in early December that the pharmacy company was exploring a potential sale of its Boots chain in 2022.