Pfizer To Cut Stake In Sensodyne Toothpaste-Maker Haleon, Potentially Worth £2B

Pfizer Inc PFE plans to slash its stake to approximately 24% in Consumer healthcare giant Haleon Plc HLN 

This move follows Pfizer’s earlier announcement that it will gradually divest its ownership in Haleon. 

The offer price per share is set to be disclosed around March 19, after a book-building process, as stated by Haleon.

Pfizer intends to sell around 630 million shares, valued at about £2 billion based on Haleon’s closing price on Friday.

Haleon, recognized for brands like Sensodyne and Advil, emerged from a merger between Pfizer’s and GSK Plc’s GSK consumer healthcare divisions in 2019, with Pfizer holding a significant stake. 

In its fourth-quarter release, Haleon added that it expects to allocate £500 million to buy back shares in 2024.

Haleon also announced its intention to repurchase approximately £315 million (approximately $400 million) of shares from Pfizer in an off-market transaction. 

The share sale and buyback are expected to reduce Pfizer’s interest in Haleon from 32% to approximately 24% of Haleon’s issued Ordinary Share capital.

GSK has progressively reduced its stake since Haleon’s inception, with the latest sale in January reducing its ownership to 4.2%, making it the second-largest shareholder.

In January, GSK announced that it would sell 300 million ordinary shares in Haleon at 326 pence per share, raising gross proceeds of approximately £978 million.

In October, GSK raised £885.6 million (around $1.08 billion) by selling some of its shares in Haleon, reducing its stake in the consumer-healthcare business to around 7.4%.

In May, GSK sold 240 million shares of Haleon in a move that has raised £804 million for the firm. The offloaded shares are equivalent to up to 2.5% of Haleon’s issued share capital.

Read Next: Major Buyout Firms Eye Sanofi’s Consumer Health Division Spinoff Valued Over $20B.

Price Action: GSK stock is up 0.28% at $42.31, HLN shares are down 2.35% at $8.12, and PFE stock is down 0.43% at $27.82 on the last check Monday.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons