GSK Sells European OTC Brands to Omega Pharma for €470 million

The brands being divested include Lactacyd, Abtei, Solpadeine, Zantac, Nytol and Beconase and generated sales of approximately £185 million in 2011. It is expected the divestment will complete in Q2 2012, subject to regulatory approvals.

Mar 16 2012 --- GSK has reached agreement to divest the previously identified non-core OTC brands in Europe to Omega Pharma for €470 million (£391 million) in cash.

The brands being divested include Lactacyd, Abtei, Solpadeine, Zantac, Nytol and Beconase and generated sales of approximately £185 million in 2011. It is expected the divestment will complete in Q2 2012, subject to regulatory approvals.

The net cash proceeds from the transaction are expected to be approximately £310 million. These will be returned to shareholders during 2012.

The net profit on disposal of the assets (including all transaction costs) is estimated to be approximately £230 million (pre-tax), £190 million (post-tax). The pre-tax profit will be recorded in Other Operating Income following completion of the disposal and will be excluded from core operating profit and EPS.

As part of the agreement, Omega will be acquiring the Herrenberg manufacturing site which is located in Germany and employs approximately 110 people. A number of the brands that are being divested are manufactured at Herrenberg and it is anticipated that existing employees will transfer with the site to Omega Pharma under the provisions of German employment law.

GSK's Chief Financial Officer, Simon Dingemans said: "The divestment of our non-core brands in Europe builds on the recent successful sale of our US and Canadian assets. Given the continued economic challenges across the Eurozone, I am pleased that we have been able to transact these assets at a good price for GSK. The objective of this divestment process is to generate attractive returns for shareholders as well as simplifying our ongoing Consumer business and enabling it to focus on its priority brands and markets."

In December 2011, GSK announced that it had reached agreement with Prestige Brands Holdings, Inc, to divest brands in the USA and Canada for £426 million ($660 million) and net cash proceeds of approximately £242 million. The vast majority of the transaction was completed at the end of January 2012 and the net proceeds will be returned to shareholders via a supplemental dividend of 5p to be paid with the fourth quarter 2011 ordinary dividend.


GSK remains in active discussions regarding the divestment of the remaining brands in markets outside of Europe and North America. The OTC brands in these markets generated sales of approximately £60 million in 2011.

The company continues to plan to divest alli. However, pending the resolution of a temporary third party supply interruption, the process to divest alli has been delayed.

In February 2011, GSK announced its intention to divest non-core Consumer Healthcare OTC products predominantly in the United States and Europe with aggregate sales of approximately £500 million. The proposed divestment is designed to realise value for shareholders and simplify GSK’s Consumer Healthcare business by enabling it to focus on priority brands and markets.