Drugs giant Pfizer is selling a stake worth around £2 billion in Sensodyne toothpaste and Advil painkillers firm Haleon.
Shares in Haleon slipped 2% in Monday morning trading when it said Pfizer was selling around 630 million shares in the consumer healthcare giant.
The move will cut Pfizer’s stake from 32% to about 24%, with the shares worth about £2.03 billion, based on the 322.3p closing price of Haleon shares on Friday.
Pfizer had reportedly revealed last May that it would begin a “slow and methodical” sell-down of its holding in Haleon within months in order to focus on selling down its debt and boosting shareholder returns.
Haleon was formed in 2019 by the merger of the consumer healthcare businesses of British pharmaceutical group GSK and US rival Pfizer, sitting as a joint venture within GSK.
It was then spun out of GSK as a standalone business listed on the London Stock Exchange in July 2022.
GSK has also since sold down its stake in the company, with the last sale in January bringing down its shareholding to 4.2% from the 13% it initially retained in the business.
Haleon said it would buy back shares worth around £315 million from Pfizer off-market.
FTSE 100-listed Haleon has already announced it would buy back £500 million of shares in 2024.
The group has been pressing ahead with plans to cut its debts, rein in costs and sell-off brands to simplify the business.
It agreed a deal in January to offload its ChapStick lip balm brand to private equity owned Suave Brands Company in a deal worth around 510 million US dollars (£400 million).