By Shanima A

(Reuters) -Pfizer sold a stake in British consumer healthcare group Haleon worth about $3.26 billion on Monday, cutting its shareholding in the maker of Sensodyne toothpaste and Panadol and Advil painkillers to 15% from 22.6%.

Shares in Haleon, which was created by the merger of GSK and Pfizer's consumer healthcare businesses in 2019 and spun off from the British drugmaker in 2022, fell 1.2% to 388 pence in morning trade on Tuesday.

The Pfizer shares were placed at 380 pence each, a discount of 3.3% to Haleon's last closing price.

Pfizer, which remains the largest shareholder in Haleon following the sale, had said last year that it planned to cut its ownership in a "slow and methodical" manner within months.

The U.S. drug giant had intended to sell about 540 million shares in Haleon, a bookrunner on the deal said late on Monday, adding this was raised 100 million shares due to strong demand.

Haleon separately confirmed it will buy about 60.5 million of its shares from Pfizer at the same price for a total of 230 million pounds ($307.4 million).

BofA Securities and Goldman Sachs International acted as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners on the sale.

Pfizer sold about $3.5 billion worth of Haleon shares in March, with GSK disposing of its entire stake in May.

In August, Haleon forecast high single-digit growth in organic operating profit in 2024 amid strong demand for its oral care products and vitamins.

($1 = 0.7463 pounds)