GSK buys joint consumer health stake from Novartis for $13 billion

March 27, 2018

GlaxoSmithKline is buying out Novartis' stake in their consumer healthcare joint venture for $13 billion. This comes a week after GSK decided to drop out of the race for Pfizer’s consumer healthcare business.

GSK also announced it would start a strategic review of Horlicks and other consumer nutrition products, which includes an assessment of its majority stake in India-listed GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare.

According to Reuters, Barclays analysts said GSK were paying less than 17 times expected 2018 core earnings for the joint venture stake, while sources said that both Merck and Pfizer had asked for up to 20 times for their respective assets.

Read the Reuters report