Haleon PLC Stock Dips Following Pfizer’s $3.26 Billion Stake Sale

Shares of Haleon PLC experienced a decline on Tuesday following the significant sale of its shares by Pfizer. The U.S. pharmaceutical company offloaded approximately $3.26 billion worth of its holdings, reducing its stake in Haleon from 22.6% to 15%, according to reports.

This divestment is part of Pfizer’s ongoing strategy to gradually reduce its investment in Haleon, which originated from the merger of GSK and Pfizer’s consumer healthcare businesses in 2019 and was spun off from GSK in 2022. Pfizer had previously announced its intention to decrease its ownership in a deliberate and considered manner.

Initially, Pfizer planned to sell around 540 million shares, but strong demand led to an increase in the offering by 100 million shares. Additionally, Haleon indicated it would repurchase approximately 60.5 million of its own shares from Pfizer at the same price, amounting to around £230 million.

Investment banks BofA Securities and Goldman Sachs International served as joint global coordinators and bookrunners for the share sale. This marks another instance of Pfizer divesting its holdings in Haleon, as it had previously sold roughly $3.5 billion worth of shares earlier this year. In May, GSK also fully exited its stake in Haleon.

Haleon is optimistic about its future performance, projecting high single-digit growth in organic operating profit for 2024, mainly driven by the demand for its oral care products and vitamins.