GSK’s proposed health spinoff to be named Haleon

GlaxoSmithKline has shared additional details, including name information, of its proposed demerger of Consumer Healthcare from GSK, which will take place in mid-2022. 

The proposed company is set to be called Haleon. 

Haleon (Hay-Lee-On) was inspired by the merging of the words ‘Hale,’ which is an old English word that means ‘in good health’ and Leon, which is associated with the word ‘strength,’ the company said. 

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“Introducing Haleon to the world marks another step in our journey to become a new, standalone company,” Brian McNamara, CEO designate of Haleon, said. “Our name is grounded in our purpose to deliver better everyday health with humanity and to be a world-leader in consumer healthcare. We are on track to launch Haleon in mid-2022 and our business momentum is strong. We look forward to updating investors and analysts more on this at our capital markets event at the end of February.”

The new brand identity was developed with input from employees, healthcare practitioners and consumers and will be deployed in more than 100 markets around the world where the business operates.

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Resulting from a series of investments and strategic changes to its consumer health business over the last eight years, Haleon’s creation also includes integrations of the consumer product portfolios from Novartis and Pfizer, which is now a highly valuable and focused global business generating annual sales of approximately £10 billion.

“Haleon brings to life years of hard work by many outstanding people to build this new company purely dedicated to everyday health,” Emma Walmsley, GSK CEO, said. “Haleon has enormous potential to improve health and wellbeing across the world with strong prospects for growth, and through listing will unlock significant value for GSK shareholders.”

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Haleon will have a world-class portfolio of category leading global brands, including Sensodyne, Voltaren, Panadol and Centrum.