Loud thud for Unilever. At the end of the morning, on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, the share of the British consumer goods multinational was losing 7,28% of its value to 43,78 euros, weighed down by the news relating to the offer for Gsk Consumer Healthcare, the joint venture between Gsk and Pfizer (which holds 32%) in which the English group owns a majority stake and which has among its brands, among others, Polident, Aquafresh, Parodontax, Voltaren and Emulgel.
Unilever has indeed presented a 50 billion euro proposal, including £41,7bn in cash and £8,3bn in Unilever shares, to acquire the Consumer Healthcare division of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK, +3,67% in London), despite GSK having already rejected its first three offers. In a note, the company explained that the acquisition would represent "a strong strategic choice", as it would "create a scale and growth platform for the combined portfolio in the United States, China and India, with further opportunities in other markets." emerging".
Analysts, however, see it differently, considering the "too risky" offer: “Paying £50bn for a company selling painkillers (between the Voltaren Emulgel and Advil brands) and toothpastes (between the Sensodyne and Parodontax brands) seems like a risky bet, while there seems to be a consensus that Unilever needs to review its own business". The price, among other things, is judged "too high" by the experts of Cmc Markets.
Unilever has made it known that it considers the expansion in "strategic". health, beauty and hygiene sector, categories that offer high growth rates, with significant opportunities to drive growth through investments and innovations. The board also concluded that major acquisitions should be accompanied by an accelerated divestment of lower intrinsic growth brands and businesses. This would provide financing and allow separation dis-synergies to be offset by acquisition synergies. .
