Benzinga - by Vandana Singh, Benzinga Editor.
GSK Plc (NYSE: GSK) said it raised £885.6 million (around $1.08 billion) from selling some of its shares in Haleon Plc (NYSE: HLN), reducing its stake in the consumer-healthcare business to around 7.4%.
The British pharmaceutical giant placed around 270 million Haleon shares at 328 pence each, representing a 2.45% discount to Haleon's closing price on Thursday of 336.25 pence.
U.S. pharma giant Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE) holds a 32% stake in Haleon and said it plans to cut ownership in a "slow and methodical" manner within months.
In May, GSK sold 240 million shares of Haleon in a move that has raised £804 million for the firm. The offloaded shares are equivalent to up to 2.5% of Haleon's issued share capital.
Following the settlement of the placing, GSK held 955 million ordinary shares in Haleon, representing approximately 10.3% of its issued share capital.
Citing a Bernstein analyst, Bloomberg noted, "Investors would likely prefer a bigger placement than this 2.9% by GSK," adding that there's still a large, nearly 40% overhang on Haleon stock.
"If a decent sized placement of about 10% was done (i.e., Pfizer starting to sell), then investors can properly judge the appetite for this stock and start seeing an end to this tunnel," the report added.
Price Action: GSK shares are up 0.58% at $36.37, and HLN shares are down 2.03% at $8.20 during the premarket session on the last check Friday.
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