GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has completed the sale of its remaining 28.2 million ordinary shares in Aspen Pharmacore Holdings at a price of South African Rand (ZAR) 300 ($21.74) per share, raising gross proceeds of approximately ZAR 8.470 million ($614 million). Following settlement of the sale, GSK will no longer hold any shares in Aspen. The gross proceeds of the transaction are equivalent to £477 million ($619 million) at the prevailing exchange rate on September 28, 2016, the company said in a statement. GSK will use proceeds of the divestment for general corporate purposes.

The company announced that it intended to sell its remaining stake in Aspen on September 28, 2016, before completing the sale the following day. GSK has been an Aspen shareholder for seven years through which the two companies have undertaken a number of commercial transactions, including the recent sale to Aspen of GSK’s anaesthetic products earlier this month.

Simon Dingemans, GSK’s chief financial officer, said in a company statement: “GSK has had a long and successful partnership with Aspen and our investment in the company has grown in value significantly over time. This disposal completes a successful phased approach to realizing that value which we can now deploy behind the Group’s priorities.”

GSK initially sold part of its stake in Aspen in March 2015 at a price at the time of ZAR 372 ($31.36) per share, raising gross proceeds of approximately ZAR 10.5 billion ($763 million).

Source: GlaxoSmithKline