GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer to Create Consumer Healthcare JV

   By Carlo Martuscelli 
 

GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK.LN) said Wednesday that it will create a consumer-health-focused joint venture with U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc. (PFE), with an eye on an eventual spinoff.

The two companies will combine their consumer-health units to create a single business with combined sales of around 9.8 billion pounds ($12.4 billion), with Glaxo holding a majority 68% stake and Pfizer the remaining 32%. The U.K. pharmaceutical major said it expects to close the deal in the second half of 2019, and it intends to separate the joint venture within three years of it closing through a separate listing on the U.K. market.

The combination is expected to be accretive to adjusted earnings and free cashflow in the first full year after it closes, and be accretive to earnings in the second year, Glaxo said.

The company said the joint venture is expected to generate annual cost savings of GBP500 million by 2022, for cash costs of GBP900 million and noncash charges of GBP300 million, adding this will be covered with GBP1 billion of divestments.

The U.K. company said the move allows it to build on its buy-out of Novartis's stake in a previous health-care joint venture, a $13 billion deal announced earlier in the year. The creation of a joint venture will help increase cashflow, allowing it to strengthen its pharmaceuticals division through increased research investment, Glaxo said.

The company backed its dividend policy and said it continues to expect to pay out 80 pence per share in 2018 as well as in 2019.

"With our future intention to separate, the transaction also presents a clear pathway forward for GSK to create a new global pharmaceuticals/vaccines company, with an R&D approach focused on science related to the immune system, use of genetics and advanced technologies, and a new world-leading consumer healthcare company," Chief Executive Emma Walmsley said.

Write to Carlo Martuscelli at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 19, 2018 02:43 ET (07:43 GMT)

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