(Reuters) -Pfizer intends to sell about 540 million shares in British consumer healthcare company Haleon, a bookrunner said on Monday, reducing the top shareholder's interest in the Sensodyne maker to 16.2%.

Haleon separately said on Monday it had agreed to make an off-market purchase of about 230 million pounds ($308.18 million) worth of ordinary shares from Pfizer.

In March, the U.S. pharma major had sold about $3.5 billion worth stake in Haleon, the first such sale since the maker of Panadol and Advil painkillers was spun off from GSK and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2022.

Pfizer last year said it had planned to cut its ownership in a "slow and methodical" manner within months.

GSK in May raised 1.25 billion pounds from a sale of its remaining stake in Haleon, created in 2019 through a merger of the company and Pfizer's consumer healthcare businesses.

($1 = 0.7463 pounds)

(Reporting by Shanima A in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Sriraj Kalluvila)