Haleon PLC Shares Decline After Pfizer Stake Sale

Shares of Haleon PLC (LON:HLN) (NYSE:HLN) declined on Tuesday following Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) offloading a significant portion of its stake in the British consumer healthcare company.

The U.S. pharmaceutical giant sold approximately $3.26 billion worth of shares, reducing its ownership in Haleon from 22.6% to 15%, as reported by Reuters.

This sale forms part of Pfizer’s ongoing strategy to gradually divest its stake in Haleon, established through the merger of GSK and Pfizer’s consumer healthcare operations in 2019 and later spun off from GSK in 2022.

Pfizer had previously indicated a methodical approach to reducing its stake over time. Initially planning to sell about 540 million shares, strong demand led to an increased offering of 100 million additional shares. Separately, Haleon announced a share buyback of around 60.5 million shares from Pfizer, valued at approximately £230 million.

Investment banks BofA Securities and Goldman Sachs International served as joint global coordinators and bookrunners for the transaction.

Earlier this year, Pfizer had divested approximately $3.5 billion in shares of Haleon, while GSK completely exited its stake in May.

Haleon anticipates strong future performance, projecting high single-digit growth in organic operating profit for 2024, fueled by rising demand for its oral care products and vitamins.