Pfizer sells stake in Sensodyne and Panadol maker Haleon worth around £2.4bn

Pfizer sold 640 cardinal shares successful Haleon for 380p each, reducing its holding successful the user healthcare steadfast by 7.6%

US pharmaceutical elephantine Pfizer has offloaded a involvement successful Sensodyne and Panadol shaper Haleon, valued astatine astir £2.4bn, reducing its stock from 22% to 15%.

Pfizer sold 640 cardinal shares successful Haleon for 380p each, decreasing its involvement successful the user healthcare institution by 7.6%. This marks the latest effort to merchantability down its involvement successful the radical aft Pfizer announced past twelvemonth its volition to gradually trim its holding.

Haleon was established successful 2019 done the merger of the user healthcare divisions of British pharmaceutical steadfast GSK and US rival Pfizer, operating arsenic a associated task wrong GSK. It was subsequently spun retired of GSK arsenic an autarkic concern and listed connected the London Stock Exchange successful July 2022.

After the flotation, GSK initially retained a 12.9% involvement successful Haleon, but some GSK and Pfizer person been selling down their stakes successful the company, with GSK wholly divesting its holding successful May erstwhile it sold its last remaining shares for £1.2bn. Pfizer besides sold astir £2.6bn worthy of Haleon shares successful March.

On Tuesday, Haleon announced that it had repurchased an further 60.5 cardinal of its shares from Pfizer astatine the aforesaid price, totalling £230 million, during the involvement sale. The determination is expected to alteration further currency returns to shareholders done stock buybacks.

Brian McNamara, the main enforcement of Haleon, said: "Our acquisition of shares from Pfizer volition successfully present connected our committedness to instrumentality £500 cardinal to shareholders done stock buybacks this year, and marks different milestone successful Pfizer reducing its involvement successful Haleon pursuing our listing successful July 2022."

Haleon has been moving proactively towards its aims of slashing debt, tightening expenditure, and streamlining the concern by divesting peculiar brands. Back successful June, the institution sealed an statement to merchantability its nicotine replacement therapy brands extracurricular the US for £500m to a conception of Indian pharmaceutical elephantine Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, which included fashionable products similar Nicotinell, Nicabate, Habitrol, and Thrive, disposable arsenic lozenges, patches, and chewing gum with varying strengths and flavours.

Earlier successful the year, Haleon made moves by disposing of its iconic ChapStick articulator balm marque successful a hefty woody valued astatine astir £383m, pursuing up the erstwhile merchantability of Lamisil, the athlete's ft treatment. Haleon has laid retired strategical plans aimed astatine concentrating connected prime "higher growth" brands and anticipates cutting costs by astir £300m successful the approaching 2 years.

The institution inactive retains ownership of wide recognised user brands specified arsenic Sensodyne toothpaste, Panadol and Advil painkillers, and Centrum vitamins.