(Reuters) - Haleon ( HLN ) said on Tuesday top shareholder Pfizer ( PFE ) offloaded a roughly $3.9 billion stake in the consumer healthcare firm, bringing down its holding in the British company to 22.6%.

Pfizer ( PFE ) previously held a 32% stake, followed by second-largest shareholder GSK which has a 4.2% holding.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

This is Pfizer's ( PFE ) first stake sale in Haleon ( HLN ) since the company was spun off from GSK and listed in 2022 - three years after its formation by combing the pharma giants' consumer healthcare units. Pfizer ( PFE ) said last year it planned to cut its ownership in a "slow and methodical" manner within months.

Meanwhile, GSK, which initially held a 12.9% stake, has sold it down over the last year, with the last sale in January.

BY THE NUMBERS

Pfizer ( PFE ) sold 594 million shares at a price of 3.08 pounds apiece and about 196.5 million American Depository Shares (ADS) at $7.85 each, which add up to roughly $3.9 billion.

This is higher than the 630 million share sale Haleon ( HLN ) had disclosed on Monday. The maker of Sensodyne toothpaste and Advil painkillers said it would also repurchase 315 million pounds worth of shares from Pfizer ( PFE ) off-market.

WHAT'S NEXT

The stake sale and the buyback is expected to close on March 21 and Pfizer's ( PFE ) shares will be subject to a 90-day lock-up period, in connection with the sale.

($1 = 0.7872 pounds)

(Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)