GlaxoSmithKline in pole position in Pfizer race

By 22nd March 2018 News, UK Pharma No Comments

GlaxoSmithKline is in pole position to win the race for the consumer healthcare business of US pharma giant Pfizer, after it beat a rival bid from Reckitt Benckiser.

Pfizer hopes to secure as much as $20bn for the unit, which sells branded over-the-counter products such as Advil painkillers, Centrum multivitamins and Caltrate calcium supplement.

Both GSK and Reckitt submitted final offers this week ahead of a noon deadline on Wednesday, according to multiple people involved in the process.

If GSK does win the auction it would represent one of the biggest strategic moves so far from Emma Walmsley, who was appointed as chief executive of the British drugmaker last April.

It was unclear if other bidders had emerged in the final weeks of the auction, but attention throughout the sale process had focused on a bidding battle between GSK and Reckitt. Other companies including Johnson & Johnson and Nestlé also followed the process, but ultimately decided not to bid in earlier rounds.

Pfizer has maintained throughout that it was exploring a sell or spin of the business, meaning that if it does not select GSK it could dispose of the unit in another manner. It could also still decide to keep the business.

“An acquisition for the whole Pfizer consumer health business did not fit our acquisition criteria and an acquisition of part of the business was not possible,” Reckitt chief executive Rakesh Kapoor said in a statement late on Wednesday.

 

Source: FT