New company Haleon will become standalone venture as GSK’s strategy for the future unfolds
GlaxoSmithKline has announced that the new company emerging from the proposed demerger with Consumer Healthcare will be called Haleon. The demerger is expected in mid-2022 and is the result of a strategic series of changes to GSK’s consumer health business over the last 8 years.
Haleon – pronounced ‘Hay-Lee-On’ – is an amalgam of two words, the company has explained: ‘Hale’, an Old English word meaning ‘in good health’, and ‘Leon’, a word associated with strength.
Brian McNamara, Chief Executive Officer Designate, Haleon, elaborated: “Introducing Haleon to the world marks another step in our journey to become a new, standalone company. 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 apparently developed with input from employees, healthcare practitioners, and customers. GSK has shared that the brand will be deployed in more than 100 markets around the world where the business operates, hailing a new age for the companies.
“Haleon brings to life years of hard work by many outstanding people to build this new company purely dedicated to everyday health,” Emma Walmsley, Chief Executive Officer, GSK, expounded. “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.”
As a standalone company, Haleon aims to be a new world-leader in consumer healthcare, built upon the ethos of bringing “deep human understanding together with trusted science, to deliver better health with humanity.”
Haleon will have a world-class portfolio of category-leading global brands, including Sensodyne, Voltaren, Panadol and Centrum.
