GSK has announced that it has approved a demerger of its customer brand into a new company, Haleon, paving the way for London’s largest stock market listing in a decade.
Shares in Haleon are scheduled to start trading on Monday 18 July, as GSK awaits a response for its application to the New York Stock Exchange.
The company had overwhelming support from investors, with 99.8% voting in favour of the move at a general meeting, with 46 people attending in person and another 99 attending virtually.
Each GSK investor will receive one share in Haleon for each share they own in the parent company, with the new FTSE 20 company expected to seek an enterprise valuation of as much as £45bn and an equity value of £33.1bn.
Haleon, whose brand portfolio will include Sensodyne toothpaste and Panadol painkillers, is the combination of the consumer health businesses of GSK and Pfizer.
Following the split, at least 54.5% of Haleon will be held by GSK shareholders, 13.5% by GSK itself and 32% by Pfizer.
In June, in an unexpected move, Pfizer announced it planned to exit its 32% ownership interest in Haleon, with the objective of ‘maximising value for Pfizer shareholders’. GSK had previously announced that Pfizer would retain its 32% stake and appoint two board members
Brian McNamara, who oversaw the joint venture when it was part of GSK, will lead the new company, and former Tesco chief executive Sir Dave Lewis will be chairman of the board.
Read more: https://www.pmlive.com/pharma_news/gsk_creates_new_consumer_healthcare_business,_haleon_1451639