Pfizer will sell shares worth £2.50 billion (€2.96 billion) in Haleon, lowering its stake in the British consumer healthcare company to about 7.3% from 15%, its bookrunner JPMorgan has said.
The sale of 700 million Haleon shares at 357 pence apiece is a discount of about 2.8% to the stock's closing price on Tuesday.
Shares in the maker of Sensodyne, Panadol and Advil, which gained 17% in 2024, were up 0.7% at 369.7 pence in morning trade on Wednesday, in line with the broader FTSE 100.
The sale represents nearly 7.7% of the issued share capital of Haleon, which was created by the merger of GSK and Pfizer's consumer healthcare businesses in 2019. It was spun off from the British drugmaker in 2022.
Largest Shareholder
Pfizer, which will remain Haleon's largest shareholder after the sale, said in 2023 it would cut its ownership in a 'slow and methodical' manner within months.
The US drugmaker is under pressure from hedge fund Starboard Value to hold its management accountable for underperformance. Last October it sold a $3.3 billion stake in Haleon, while GSK sold its entire stake in May.
JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley are joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners for the share sale.
In October, Haleon missed third-quarter forecasts, hurt by a stronger pound and lower sales of its painkiller Panadol in Australia and the Middle East.
The company reported a revenue of £2.78 billion (€3.32 billion) for the three months ended 30 September, missing expectations of £2.83 billion (€3.38 billion), according to a company-compiled consensus.
While consumer healthcare companies and their daily-use essentials are usually the last to see an impact to demand from a cost-of-living crisis, firms largely mitigate the damage to profits and margins by passing them on to shoppers via price hikes.
