A spokesman for GlaxoSmithKline on Wednesday declined to comment on a report by IFR, saying the British drugmaker was selling a block of shares in Hindustan Unilever worth $3.4 billion(2.75 billion pounds) on the open market.

In December 2018 GSK agreed to sell malted drink brand Horlicks and other nutrition brands to Unilever for $3.8 billion. At the time it accepted as partial payment a stake in a planned joint venture between GSK's Indian business - whose main product is Horlicks - and Unilever's Indian unit Hindustan Unilever.

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger, editing by Louise Heavens)