ZURICH (Reuters) – Emasan AG, an arm of the Sandoz Family Foundation, has launched a public offering of some 26.5 million shares in Swiss pharmaceutical firm Novartis to raise up to $3 billion in an accelerated bookbuilt offering, according to the bookrunner.
According to the terms of the offering, seen by Reuters on Tuesday, Emasan is putting up the stock at 98.25 Swiss francs per share, or a discount of 2.5% to the market price.
The stake Emasan is selling represents roughly 1% of Novartis’s outstanding shares, the pharma company said.
The vast majority of Novartis shareholders are institutional investors with a long-term view, which the company expects to continue, a Novartis spokesperson said.
Books for the deal are covered, the bookrunner said.
Emasan was the second largest Novartis shareholder at the end of 2024 with 4.1% of the stock, according to the firm.
Sandoz was one of the two predecessor companies which combined to form Novartis in 1996.
(Reporting by Alexander Huebner and Paul Arnold; Additional reporting by Oliver Hirt; editing by Alexandra Hudson)
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