GSK raises £978m through Haleon share sale

The pharma giant sold 300m ordinary shares in Haleon in a placing at 326p each.

GSK will now hold around 385m ordinary shares in Haleon, which represents a stake of about 4.2%.

GSK and Pfizer - which has a 32% interest in Haleon - have both agreed not to sell any further shares in Haleon for 60 days.

Haleon was spun out from GlaxoSmithKline in 2019 and created through the merger of GSK and Pfizer’s consumer healthcare business.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "While GSK is still left with a 4.2% stake, this is seen as tiny in the context of what it used to own and therefore the market will stop viewing it as a major share overhang for Haleon.

"However, the same doesn’t apply to Pfizer which still owns 32% of Haleon. It has already signalled plans to sell down those shares at some point so until that completes, investors will always have it at the back of their minds that there will be active selling in Haleon shares, albeit spaced out in chunks rather than a daily dribble on the market."