Yahoo Finance

(Bloomberg) -- Novartis AG’s Sandoz family sold a roughly 1.2% stake in the Swiss pharmaceutical group for 2.6 billion Swiss francs ($2.9 billion).

Most Read from Bloomberg

• NYC’s Congestion Pricing Pulls In $48.6 Million in First Month

• The Trump Administration Takes Aim at Transportation Research

• Shelters Await Billions in Federal Money for Homelessness Providers

• NYC to Shut Migrant Center in Former Hotel as Crisis Eases

• New York’s Congestion Pricing Plan Faces Another Legal Showdown

The Sandoz Family Foundation, through the vehicle Emasan AG, offered 26.5 million shares via an accelerated placement to investors, according to terms seen on Wednesday. The offering priced at a 2.5% discount to the stock’s Tuesday closing price.

Demand for the shares exceeded the stock being offered within an hour of the deal launching, terms showed. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is arranging the sale. Novartis shares slid as much as 2.8% to 97.95 francs on Wednesday, paring gains for the year to about 11%.

Novartis traces its roots to a firm co-founded in 1886 by Edouard Sandoz and Alfred Kern. The company merged with Ciba-Geigy to form Novartis almost three decades ago. In 2023, the group spun out its generic and biosimilar operations into a new company called Sandoz Group AG.

Novartis doesn’t expect any significant change in the shareholder base or the strategic direction of the company as a result of the sale, the pharmaceutical company’s spokesperson said. A spokesperson for the Sandoz Family Foundation said diversification was the reason for the stake sale.

Some of Novartis’ patents are set to expire this year, including top-selling heart medicine Entresto which is likely to face generic competitors in the US.

Emasan is among the largest individual shareholders in the company and held a roughly 4.1% stake prior to the offering, according to a recent company governance report and data compiled by Bloomberg.

The sale comes amid a flurry of selldowns in European companies as shareholders move to take advantage of high stock prices. The Novartis stake deal will add to at least $8.6 billion of European block sales so far this year through Monday, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Elsewhere in the region, private equity group EQT AB sold a stake of around 6% in Azelis Group NV. Kirkbi Invest A/S, a vehicle for LEGO’s founding family, also sold a roughly 5% of Denmark’s ISS A/S, according to terms seen by Bloomberg.

--With assistance from Jan-Henrik Förster.

(Updates with share move in third paragraph.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

• Trump’s SALT Tax Promise Hinges on an Obscure Loophole

• Walmart Wants to Be Something for Everyone in a Divided America

• Meet Seven of America’s Top Personal Finance Influencers

• China Learned to Embrace What the US Forgot: The Virtues of Creative Destruction

• Why Private Equity Is Eyeing Your Nest Egg

©2025 Bloomberg L.P.