Unilever Shares Rise on Refusal to Increase Final Offer for GSK

Unilever shares saw a 2% rise on Thursday after the company said it would not raise its rejected 50 billion pound offer for GlaxoSmithKline's consumer healthcare business.

Shares in GSK fell by similar levels on Wednesday after the consumer goods giant ended its pursuit of a business that the pharmaceuticals company plans to spin off later this year.

The company called the GSK business a good strategic fit as it tried to shift more towards a focus on health, beauty and hygiene products only on Monday, but the approach was not met well, causing a share tumble as ratings agencies warned of debt downgrades as a result of such a big deal.

Regardless, the deal wasn’t meant to come through. GSK said it had rejected three attempts from Unilever for the business which makes Sensodyne toothpaste and painkillers such as Panadol and is 32% owned by the famous US drugmaker Pfizer.

Unilever’s final proposal on December 20 comprised 41.7 billion pounds in cash and 8.3 billion pounds in Unilever shares, but GSK said it failed to reflect the intrinsic value of the business and its potential.

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