(Reuters) – GSK has raised 1.25 billion pounds ($1.52 billion) from selling its entire remaining stake in consumer healthcare firm Haleon, the British drugmaker said on Friday.
GSK sold around 385 million shares at 324 pence apiece, amounting to a 4.2% stake in Haleon. The company was formed in a merger of GSK and Pfizer’s consumer healthcare businesses in 2019.
The sale was at a discount of about 2.5% to Haleon’s last close of 332.4 pence on Thursday.
The sell-off will allow GSK to sharpen its focus on vaccines, cancer and infectious diseases, which has been CEO Emma Walmsley’s major focus to boost earnings at the drugmaker under its current strategy.
Haleon, in which GSK initially had a nearly 13% stake, was spun out and listed on the London Stock Exchange in July 2022.
This sale marks GSK’s fourth offload in the Sensodyne toothpaste maker in just over a year.
($1 = 0.7898 pounds)
(Reporting by Prerna Bedi in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K)
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