Pfizer offloads £2 billion stake in Glaxo spin-off
HALEON’S top shareholder is selling a £2bn stake in the group.
US drugmaker Pfizer will offload around 630m shares – reducing its holding in the Sensodyne toothpaste maker from 32pc down to 24pc. Pfizer will also sell around £315m worth of stock back to Haleon, whose shares fell 2.3pc, or 7.3p, to 315p.
Haleon, which is also behind Otrivine nasal drops and painkillers Panadol and Advil, floated in London at 330p in July 2022.
Prior to listing, it was the consumer healthcare business that was run by GSK (up 0.7pc, or 11.2p, to 1660.8p) and Pfizer.
The London pharma giant owned 68pc while its US counterpart held the rest.
GSK spun off the consumer healthcare arm in 2022 and listed it a separate company, creating Haleon. Two months ago GSK – which holds a 4.2pc stake – also sold 300m shares. On the wider markets, the FTSE 100 edged down 0.06pc, or 4.87 points, to 7722.55 and the FTSE 250 lost 0.1pc, or 26.38 points, to 19486.53.
Rolls-Royce once again came agonisingly close to hitting a record high.
The jet engine maker’s stock, which peaked at 396.5p in January 2014, yesterday fell 0.9pc, or 3.5p, to 390p.
Easyjet gained following a bullish update from its boss Johan Lundgren, who said the airliner’s business travel will return to the same levels as before the pandemic struck.
He also said that the firm is forecasting its capacity will grow by 8pc this summer thanks to aircraft deliveries. Shares added 0.8pc, or 4.4p, to 534p.
Aston Martin gained 5pc, or 7.9p, to 167.4p after analysts at Bank of America upgraded the luxury car maker’s rating.
The broker said the company is ‘turning the corner’ now it has shored up its finances.
Aviva has sold its stake in Singapore Life for £937m.
In September last year the insurer agreed to sell its 25.9pc holding in Singlife alongside two debt instruments to Sumitomo Life for £800m.
Three months later Aviva said it should pocket £930m from the deal. And yesterday it revealed the price was even higher at £937m. Shares dropped 0.4pc, or 1.7p, to 480.7p. Property developer British Land has teamed up with the asset manager Royal London to turn the former headquarters of Facebook owner Meta into a science and technology hub.
The pair’s joint business wants to transform the site in Euston, which is valued at £385m, into a facility housing labs and office spaces. Shares in British Land increased 1.2pc, or 4.3p, to 372.5p.
Reckitt Benckiser, which makes Cillit Bang, clawed back some of last week’s losses.
On Friday the consumer giant behind brands such as Nurofen, Dettol and Durex revealed it was ordered to pay £ 50m to the mother of a premature baby who died after being fed the company’s Enfamil baby formula.
Shares tumbled 14.6pc on Friday but rose 2pc, or 89p, to 4575p yesterday.