- It is gradually reducing stake to boost balance sheet and finance drug pipeline
GSK has dumped £978million of Haleon shares, cutting its stake in the world’s largest standalone consumer healthcare firm to just 4.2 per cent.
The FTSE 100 drugmaker revealed on Wednesday it had sold around 300 million shares in Haleon at a price of 326p apiece, reflecting a roughly 2.7 per cent discount to the firm’s closing price on Tuesday of 333.6p.
GSK has been gradually reducing its stake in the Sensodyne maker since it partnered with Pfizer to spin-out the company as a standalone firm in July 2022.
Haleon products include Sensodyne toothpaste and painkiller Panadol
The group has raised billions selling Haleon shares to help enhance its balance sheet and finance its drug pipeline.
Rival Pfizer also intends to trim its shareholding in order to hand more money to investors and reduce debts connected to the $43billion takeover of cancer treatment developer Seage in December.
Haleon shares took a tumble in November after the group narrowly missed third-quarter revenue predictions.
The Panadol maker grappled with weak demand for its painkillers, and digestive health and vitamin supplements in North America, but stuck by its full-year forecasts.
Haleon shares are up by around 4 per cent since listing at 316.5p in July 2022.
GSK is set to plough hundreds of millions of pounds into the UK in the next two years in efforts to improve the pharmaceutical group’s UK sites, including constructing new facilities and assembly lines.
The FTSE 100 giant, meanwhile, is embarking on a £67million upgrade project for one of its factories in Scotland.
The revamp at Montrose in the east of the country will help GSK improve production of the ingredients used to make a range of medicines.
GSK shares were down 0.6 per cent in early trading to 1,573p.
