A show of support for GlaxoSmithKline's hedge fund fight
Several large shareholders have said that they will support GlaxoSmithKline in its battle with hedge fund Elliott Management.


Several large shareholders have signalled that they will support GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in its battle with hedge fund Elliott Management, giving a “huge boost” to the pharma company’s “under-fire” management, say Alex Lawson and Emma Dunkley in The Mail on Sunday. Elliott is said to be pushing for a “dramatic” new plan that could see the FTSE100 firm “sold off in parts or swallowed up by a foreign rival”. However, BlackRock, GSK’s biggest investor, its fifth-largest shareholder Dodge & Cox,and insurer Royal London have reportedly urged firm’s chairman Jonathan Symonds to carry on with plans to overhaul its drugs pipeline and to spin off its consumer healthcare division next year.
The intervention will provide “some relief” for GSK’s chief executive Emma Walmsley (pictured), and there may be more good news to come, say Alex Ralph and Dominic Walsh in The Times. GSK’s Covid-19 vaccine, which it is developing in conjunction with Sanofi, has showed “positive results” in recent trials. GSK and Sanofi have “trailed others in the race to provide coronavirus jabs”, but may now have a product available by the end of the year.
This shows why GSK should hang on to its vaccines unit, says Lex in the Financial Times. The division is a “crown jewel” that “has increased revenues by 50% and nearly doubled profits in the past four years” thanks to the Shingrix shingles vaccine, while its respiratory syncytial virus vaccine looks promising. Research into the immune system is driving both the vaccines and pharma business. Splitting this up would be “the wrong prescription”.
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Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.
He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.
Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.
As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.
Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri
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