LONDON: On 1 April 2020 GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) announced the completion of its divestment of Horlicks and other Consumer Healthcare nutrition products in India to Unilever, including the merger of its Indian listed entity, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Limited (GSK India), and Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL).

Through the merger of GSK India with HUL, GSK acquired a 5.7% stake in HUL, an Indian public company listed on the Indian National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

GSK has, through its subsidiaries GlaxoSmithKline Pte Limited and Horlicks Limited, today agreed to the sale of 133.772 million ordinary shares in HUL at a volume-weighted average price of approximately Rs. 1,905 per share, raising gross proceeds of approximately Rs. 254.8 billion.

Following settlement of the sale, GSK will 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 £3.1 billion and net proceeds to be approximately £2.4 billion after hedging costs, taxes and other expenses had been settled.  With the appreciation of HUL’s share price since then, GSK now expects gross proceeds from the divestment to be £3.4 billion and net proceeds from the divestment to be £2.9 billion.

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.

HSBC Securities and Capital Markets (India) Private Limited, J.P. Morgan India Private Limited and Morgan Stanley India Company Private Limited are acting as joint placement agents for the Placing.