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Haleon plc, the consumer healthcare joint venture of pharmaceutical giants GlaxoSmithKline plc and Pfizer Inc. is due to list in London in July 2022. Haleon’s listing will follow its demerger from GlaxoSmithKline (due to be voted on by GlaxoSmithKline shareholders on 6 July 2022) and will likely see the company catapulted to the top 20% of the FTSE 100 with an estimated market capitalisation of £40bn.

GlaxoSmithKline’s decision to spin off Haleon is so that it is able to focus on its core prescription medicine and vaccines business and is its most significant corporate change in decades. GlaxoSmithKline is actively pursuing acquisitions of companies it believes will boost its core business. The British company ramped up these efforts in May 2022 with the of Boston-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Affinivax Inc. for $2.1 billion upfront and up to $1.2 billion following the achievement of development milestones.

The decision to continue with the proposed timeframe of Haleon’s floatation has come as a surprise to some as London and other European listing venues have struggled to attract IPOs in recent months.  Companies have remained cautious as a result of ongoing market volatility, much of which has been attributed to ramifications of the conflict in Ukraine. Despite pushing ahead with its listing (believed to be the biggest in London for a decade), Haleon acknowledged in its that it is not immune to the effects of the conflict, stating that ‘there may be certain reputational risks’ associated with the company’s continued presence in Russia. relating to Haleon’s 2021 financial year show that the Ukrainian and Russian markets accounted for less than three percent of its revenue.

Following the successful listing, Pfizer has it will reduce its stake in Haleon. As such, it is expected to be bound by an orderly market agreement with the company to ensure the stock remains stable.

The confirmation of Haleon’s listing comes months after it turned down three separate bids for the company from Unilever, culminating in a . Unilever’s pursuit of Haleon was disclosed by GlaxoSmithKline in January 2022 and saw Unilever receive significant backlash from shareholders. Unilever’s share price dipped 7% the day it was announced. No other offers for Haleon have been disclosed by GlaxoSmithKline, and it remains highly likely the company will be listed as initially planned.

Market Tracker will continue to monitor this transaction as it develops.