Why GSK took Unilever shares for Indian Horlicks deal

GlaxoSmithKline’s sale of the malted drink came at a high price but mostly in shares.

British pharmaceutical group GlaxoSmithKline secured the high price of 3.1 billion $3.97 billion for the sale of its Indian business, but the proceeds are mostly in shares rather than cash.

GlaxoSmithKline said on Monday that it would sell Horlicks and other consumer healthcare nutrition brands to Unilever as well as merge GSK Consumer Healthcare India with Unilever’s Indian unit, Hindustan Unilever.

The assets fetched a high valuation at auction partly due to the growth of India’s consumer goods market and fierce competition from bidders.

Hindustan Unilever said on a conference call with analysts that it expects the health food...

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