GSK rejects £50 billion Unilever offer for consumer assets



by   |  VIEW 1998

GSK rejects £50 billion Unilever offer for consumer assets
GSK rejects £50 billion Unilever offer for consumer assets

On Saturday, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the Brentford, UK-based consumer goods and pharmaceutical company, had issued a statement saying that the consumer health business giant had disapproved a £50 billion cash-and-stock takeover bid from Unilever for its consumer goods unit, citing that the offer had ‘fundamentally undervalued’ the business alongside its future prospects.

Aside from that, the British multinational consumer health products manufacturer, had told that it would stick on to its slated spin-off of the unit. Nevertheless, a Sunday Times newspaper report had unravelled earlier that Unilever had offered a £50 billion cash-and-stock deal and the offer had been rejected as GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer that holds a small stake in the company, had branded bid as ‘too low’.

On top of that, earlier on Saturday, Unilever had confirmed the report adding that a buyout of GlaxoSmithKline’s consumer health business would be a strong fit as the consumer health goods’ manufacturer had been overhauling its portfolio on an adjusted basis.

GSK rejects Unilever’s £50 billion buyout deal

Apart from that, GSK had said in a statement on Saturday that it had received three buyout bids from Unilever, while the latest of them was dated to December 20 which offered £41.7 billion in cash and £8.3 billion in shares.

Nonetheless, adding that the GSK’s consumer healthcare unit would top global market growth rates in a medium-term outlook, the statement added, “The Board of GSK therefore remains focused on executing its proposed demerger of the Consumer Healthcare business ...

on track to be achieved in mid-2022”. Unilever is expected to spin off its consumer healthcare goods business in a separate listing in mid-2021.