By Elena Vardon


Pfizer plans to sell a stake in Haleon currently valued at around 2 billion pounds ($2.55 billion), trimming its ownership in the consumer-healthcare business for the first time since its listing.

The pharmaceutical giant intends to reduce its stake in Haleon to 24% from 32% currently, Haleon said Monday. With the move, Pfizer follows U.K. drugmaker GSK, which has been offloading its initial 12.9% shareholding in the company in recent months and now owns a 4.2% stake.

This comes at a time of intense merger-and-acquisition activity in the pharmaceutical industry, which has seen big companies snapping up smaller biotechnology businesses.

Haleon--which houses Sensodyne toothpaste and Aquafresh mouthwash as well as over-the-counter medicines Panadol and Advil--also agreed to buy back shares valued at GBP315 million from Pfizer at the same price as the public offer's. The offer price will be determined via an accelerated bookbuild offering process which is to start on or around Tuesday.

Haleon was formed in July 2019 via the merger of GSK and Pfizer's consumer-healthcare businesses into a new joint-venture company, before being spun out and listed on the London Stock Exchange in July 2022. Pfizer--which then retained a 32% ownership in the group--said at the time of the demerger that it planned to exit its interest with the aim to maximize value for its shareholders.

Pfizer plans to sell around 630 million of the shares it holds in the London-listed company through a public offering, Haleon said. Based on Haleon shares' Friday closing price of 322.3 pence, Pfizer would raise about GBP2.03 billion from the transaction, subject to customary closing conditions.

Shares in Haleon traded 1.9% lower at 316.3 pence at 0844 GMT on Monday, while the FTSE 100 index edged up 0.1%.


Write to Elena Vardon at elena.vardon@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-18-24 0509ET