GSK Consumer Spinoff to be Called Haleon
British pharmaceuticals major GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is now proceeding full speed ahead with plans to spin off its consumer health unit. The procedure is being accelerated after management rejected Unilever’s $68 billion takeover offer as too low, and the London-based international consumer products giant said it would not reopen negotiations.
GSK recently designated Brian McNamara, the business’s current head, as future CEO, and and former Tesco CEO Dave Lewis as chair. This week it announced the name for the new company as Haleon (pronounced Hay-Lee-On), combining blessings of “in good health” and “strength” from the words Hale and Leon.
With full-year 2021 sales of £9.6 billion, Haleon will become as a standalone entity in mid-2022. Planned to be listed on the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE), it will be a leading player in its field with top-selling over-the-counter products such as multivitamins brand Centrum, anti-inflammatory gel Voltaren and analgesic Panadol. The portfolio derives from the merged OTC units of GSK, Pfizer and Novartis.
To be headquartered in Weybridge, UK, about 20 miles southwest of central London, Haleon will have its own £120 million campus. This is currently under construction and is expected to open at the end of 2024. The business’s US headquarters will remain in Warren, New Jersey.
Around 1,400 people will be employed on the Weybridge campus, including global support function teams. The complex will also have an innovation center with R&D labs and a shopper science lab to study consumer behavior. According to GSK, the headquarters building is being designed with sustainability in mind.
The pharma group’s management plans to provide details on the financial outlook for the spun off unit at a virtual event on Feb. 28.
Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist
