GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK) has narrowed the field of bidders for a consumer-drug portfolio it put on the block earlier this year. Among the potential buyers that have made it through to the second round are Bain Capital and two pharma-industry players, sources tell Reuters. Private equity firms Advent International and Cinven are no longer in the field.
As Reuters notes, the GSK products for sale include pain relievers such as BC and Goody's; feminine hygeine product Lactacyd; vitamin pill Abtei; and, perhaps most notably, the weight-loss drug alli, which GSK once had pegged as a potential blockbuster. Combined, the drugs amounted to 10% of GSK's consumer health sales, about £500 million, or $807 million.
When GSK announced the sale, officials said they intended to focus on the consumer products in its portfolio that were growing fastest and on growing consumer sales in emerging markets. The for-sale meds sell mostly in the U.S. and Europe.
- read the Reuters news