Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) has sold over £3 billion ($3.8 billion) of shares in Haleon (NYSE:HLN), thereby reducing its interest in the consumer health firm from 32% to approximately 22.6%.
The U.S. drugmaker sold around 790.55M Haleon (HLN) ordinary shares, of which 594M are ordinary shares sold at a price to the public of £3.08 each. The remaining 196.55M are ordinary shares in the form of American Depositary Shares (ADS), sold at $7.85 per ADS.
The size of the global offer was increased from the previously announced approximately 630M ordinary shares. Pfizer (PFE) will receive all the net proceeds from the offering.
In addition, Haleon (HLN) has agreed to repurchase 102,272,727 ordinary shares from Pfizer (PFE) off-market for aggregate consideration of approximately £315M (approximately $400M). This is part of a share purchase deed between the two companies signed in 2023.
The purchase price for the share buyback payable by Haleon (HLN) to Pfizer (PFE) is £3.08 per ordinary share, equal to the offering price per ordinary share in the global offer.
The buyback and the stake sale are expected to close on March 21 and Pfizer’s shares will be subject to a 90-day lock-up period, in connection with the sale.
The move marks the first time Pfizer (PFE) has sold down its stake in Haleon (HLN).
Pfizer (PFE), which took initial steps to form Haleon (HLN) in 2019 by combining its consumer health business with that of GSK (GSK), had previously indicated its plans to gradually trim its stake to reduce debt linked to its $43B acquisition of Seagen and boost returns.
U.K. drugmaker GSK (GSK) has also been trimming its interest in Haleon (HLN), announcing the sale of shares worth $1B days after Pfizer (PFE) announced a similar move in 2023.
Haleon (HLN), which houses brands such as Sensodyne toothpaste, TUMS digestive aids, and Advil painkillers, was spun out of GSK in 2022.
