Pfizer has divested its entire residual shareholding in Haleon, representing 7.3% of the company’s issued share capital, for £2.55bn ($3.3bn), as reported by Bloomberg.
The move finalises a years-long separation process from GSK’s former Consumer Healthcare business, now an independent entity known as Haleon.
Go deeper with GlobalData
The transaction involved the sale of 662 million ordinary shares to institutional investors via an expedited book-building process.
The offering price per share was determined during the book-building period, which began immediately after the announcement and was subject to closure at any time on short notice.
Pfizer is set to obtain all net proceeds from the offering, which is contingent on customary closing conditions.
No new ordinary shares are sold or issued by Haleon as part of this offering, and hence, Haleon will not obtain any proceeds from the offering.
Haleon and Pfizer previously agreed upon a share purchase deed, which allowed Haleon to purchase shares directly from Pfizer off-market.
Haleon committed to buying £170m ($220m) worth of shares at the same offering price, contingent upon certain conditions being met, including the offering price not exceeding the closing price on the London Stock Exchange on the day of the announcement.
The disposal represents Pfizer’s exit from its investment in Haleon, which originated from a joint venture (JV) formed with GSK in 2019.
The JV united their consumer healthcare businesses, bringing together the GSK’s Voltaren, and Panadol with Pfizer’s Centrum, Caltrate and Advil.
The sale was managed by a consortium of financial institutions, including BofA Securities, Citigroup Global Markets and Goldman Sachs International as joint global coordinators and bookrunners.
Barclays and Deutsche Numis are acting as joint bookrunners, with JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, RBC Capital Markets and Independence Point Securities as co-managers.
The strategic move follows Pfizer’s update in June 2022 regarding its ownership interest in Haleon, after GSK demerged 80% of its ownership in the Consumer Healthcare business to its shareholders in July of the same year, establishing Haleon as an independent listed company.
