By Shanima A
(Reuters) -Pfizer on Monday sold a stake in British consumer healthcare group Haleon worth about $3.26 billion, cutting its stake in the maker of Sensodyne toothpaste and Panadol and Advil painkillers from 22.6% to 15 %.
Shares in Haleon, created by the merger of GSK and Pfizer (NYSE:)’s consumer healthcare business in 2019 and spun off from the British drugmaker in 2022, fell 1.2% to 388 pence in morning trading on Tuesday.
The Pfizer shares were placed at 380 pence each, a 3.3% discount to Haleon’s last closing price.
Pfizer, which will remain Haleon’s largest shareholder after the sale, had said last year that it planned to reduce its ownership in a “slow and methodical” manner over several months.
The US drug giant planned to sell about 540 million shares in Haleon, a bookrunner on the deal said late on Monday, adding that 100 million shares had been picked up due to strong demand.
Haleon separately confirmed it will buy about 60.5 million shares of Pfizer at the same price for a total of 230 million pounds ($307.4 million).
BofA Securities and Goldman Sachs International acted as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners on the sale.
Pfizer sold about $3.5 billion worth of Haleon shares in March, while GSK sold its entire stake in May.
In August, Haleon forecast high-single-digit organic operating profit growth through 2024, amid strong demand for its oral care products and vitamins.
($1 = 0.7463 pounds)
