- Pfizer nets $3.36 billion in share sale
- Haleon completes £500 million share repurchase
- Sanofi plans to divest consumer healthcare unit
Strong demand from US investors allowed pharmaceutical giant Pfizer (PFE:NYSE) to sell an upscaled 640 million shares in consumer healthcare group Haleon (HLN) at 380p, representing a 3.3% discount to the prior close.
Investors focused on the positive implications of a reduced share overhang and marked the shares down by only 1.2p or 0.3% to 391.7p, leaving the stock up 21% for the year, ahead of the FTSE 100’s 7% advance.
The sale netted Pfizer $3.26 billion and cut its stake in the Sensodyne toothpaste-to-Panadol maker from nearly 23% to 15% and is in line with Pfizer’s plan to reduce its ownership in a ‘slow and methodical’ manner.
Haleon’s purchase was made in conjunction with Pfizer’s offering to institutional shareholders.
It includes 30.1 million shares, worth around £115 million which will be cancelled and represents the remainder of the company’s £500 million share buyback announced on 1 August, completing the programme.
An additional 30.3 million shares will be held as treasury shares to satisfy Haleon’s obligations under existing employee share plans.
CEO Brian McNamara commented: ‘Our purchase of shares from Pfizer will successfully deliver on our commitment to return £500 million to shareholders through share buybacks this year and marks another milestone in Pfizer reducing its stake in Haleon following our listing in July 2022.’
SPIN-OFF TREND CONTINUES
Haleon was separated from parent GSK (GSK) in July 2022 and listed on the London and New York stock exchanges. The business was formed through the 2019 merger of GSK’s and Pfizer’s consumer healthcare divisions to create the world’s largest consumer healthcare company.
The share sale follows a $3.5 billion disposal by Pfizer in March 2024 while GSK sold its entire stake in May 2024. Pfizer remains Haleon’s largest shareholder.
GSK’s move to spin-off its non-core consumer healthcare business has been followed by other pharma companies including Johnson & Johnson (JNJ:NYSE), which demerged Kenvue (KVUE:NYSE) in July 2023.
French firm Sanofi (SAN:EPA) plans to separate is consumer healthcare division in what could be Europe’s largest IPOs (initial public offerings) of the year. Analysts at Jefferies estimate the spin-off could be worth between €18 billion and €20 billion.
Sanofi’s divestiture plans started in 2019 when CEO Paul Hudson reorganised the company, leaving consumer healthcare operating as a standalone division. In 2023 it generated €5.2 billion of revenue, around a tenth of the overall group revenue.
