Haleon (HLN.L) announced on Tuesday that Pfizer (PFE.N), its largest shareholder, has reduced its investment in the British consumer healthcare company by selling a stake valued at approximately $3.5 billion.
This sale decreases Pfizer’s ownership to 22.6%, a significant drop from its previous 32% stake. The move positions GSK (GSK.L), holding a 4.2% share, as the second-largest shareholder.
This transaction marks Pfizer’s initial divestiture from Haleon following its 2022 public offering, which occurred three years after Haleon was established through the merger of Pfizer and GSK’s consumer healthcare divisions.
Pfizer had expressed intentions last year to methodically reduce its stake over the following months.
Concurrently, GSK has been downsizing its originally 12.9% stake, culminating in its latest sale this past January.
The details of the sale involve Pfizer unloading 594 million Haleon shares at 3.08 pounds each, alongside approximately 196.5 million American Depository Shares (ADS) priced at $7.85 per share, totaling around $3.1 billion.
This amount surpasses the 630 million shares Haleon disclosed it was selling just the day before. In response to the sale, Haleon, known for products like Sensodyne toothpaste and Advil painkillers, plans to repurchase shares worth 315 million pounds ($399.92 million) from Pfizer in an off-market transaction.
The finalized sale and buyback agreement is set to conclude on March 21, with Pfizer agreeing to a 90-day lock-up period for its shares post-sale.
This correction to the story clarifies the actual value of the stake sale to $3.5 billion from a previously reported $3.9 billion and corrects the sale’s value to $3.1 billion, excluding Haleon’s off-market repurchases.
Additionally, it rectifies a typographical error mentioned earlier in the report.