Pfizer begins to offload Haleon stake with £2-billion share sale

18 Mar 2024
firstwordpharma.com
VaccineAcquisitionADCImmunotherapy
Pfizer plans to reduce its stake in Haleon by around 8% as the US drugmaker starts the process of paring back its holding in the consumer health company. Pfizer’s sale of 630 million Haleon shares will net it around £2 billion ($2.5 billion).
Haleon was spun-off from GSK in 2022, with the UK drugmaker’s shareholders awarded stock in the new business amounting to the majority of its 68% stake. While GSK and Pfizer were prohibited from cashing in their Haleon holdings for a number of months following its formation, the UK drugmaker has subsequently sold three chunks of shares, with the most recent reducing its stake to about 4.2%.
Meanwhile, Pfizer indicated last year that it intended to offload its 32% stake in a "slow and methodical" manner. Since then the drugmaker has unveiled a $3.5-billion cost-cutting programme and issued underwhelming guidance for the current year, both as a result of waning demand for its COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty and oral antiviral treatment Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir/ritonavir).
Pfizer has also been spending big, recently forking out $43 billion on the purchase of antibody-drug conjugate developer Seagen in a deal that was finalised late last year.
Haleon said Monday that in conjunction with Pfizer’s stake reduction, it will purchase around £315 million ($400 million) of its own shares from the drugmaker.
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