(Sharecast News) - GlaxoSmithKline announced a rise in the proceeds it was expecting from the sale of its Indian consumer healthcare portfolio on Thursday, as it sold its holding in Hindustan Unilever.
The FTSE 100 pharmaceuticals giant had divested Horlicks and other consumer healthcare nutrition products in India to Unilever on 1 April, which included the merger of its Indian-listed entity GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (GSK India) with Hindustan Unilever (HUL).
Through the merger of GSK India with HUL, GlaxoSmithKline acquired a 5.7% stake in HUL - a public company listed on the Indian National Stock Exchange and the Bombay Stock Exchange.
The firm said it had now agreed to the sale of 133,772,044 ordinary shares in HUL at a volume-weighted average price of about INR 1,905 (?20.28) per share, raising gross proceeds of around INR 254.8bn (?2.71bn).
Following the settlement of the sale, GlaxoSmithKline would no longer hold any HUL shares.
"When GSK originally announced the divestment of Horlicks in December 2018, the company expected gross proceeds from the overall transaction to be approximately ?3.1bn, and net proceeds to be approximately ?2.4bn after hedging costs, taxes and other expenses had been settled," the board noted in its statement.
"With the appreciation of HUL's share price since then, GSK now expects gross proceeds from the divestment to be ?3.4bn and net proceeds from the divestment to be ?2.9bn.
"This includes the proceeds received on closing of the transaction on 1 April 2020, and the expected proceeds from the sale of our Bangladesh business, which is expected to close later this year."
At 0934 BST, shares in GlaxoSmithKline were up 0.04% at 1,697.6p.
Glaxosmithkline (GSK)2 May 2024 19:57
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