PFIZER TO SELL SHARES WORTH £2 BN IN HALEON, TO REDUCE STAKE

Pfizer Inc. plans to sell about £2 billion ($2.5 billion) of shares in Haleon Plc, the first step by the UK consumer health company’s biggest shareholder to reduce its 32% stake.

The US drugmaker, which has said for some time it intended to pare its holding in the maker of Centrum vitamins, will offer 630 million shares of Haleon. As part of the process, Haleon will buy back about £315 million of its shares from Pfizer, whose stake will shrink to about 24%.

Shares of Haleon fell more than 3% in early trading in London. They’re up about 3% since the company was separated from GSK Plc in 2022 as the British drugmaker opted to focus on its pharma and vaccines business amid pressure from activist investor Elliott Investment Management.

Haleon had been formed from a combination GSK’s and Pfizer’s consumer-health units, with the US drugmaker keeping a stake. The company also makes other products like Sensodyne toothpaste and Panadol pain relief tablets.

In recent years, pharma companies have moved to separate their consumer health and generic-drug entities as they narrow their focus to their core business of developing innovative treatments. Sanofi has also said it planned to spin out its consumer division, while Johnson & Johnson finalized the split from Kenvue in August.

Haleon’s performance has been improving recently and it said in February that revenue could grow as much as 6% this year.

The company has been cutting costs and paring its portfolio since the split from GSK in 2022.

GSK has raised more than £2.5 billion from three selldowns of its shares in Haleon. Monday’s news marks the start of Pfizer offloading its holding, with the US drugmaker having previously said it wants to focus on its pharma innovations.