Glaxo Hires Former Tesco Boss to Lead Consumer Unit Spinoff

(Bloomberg) -- GlaxoSmithKline Plc appointed former Tesco Plc chief executive and turnaround expert Dave Lewis to lead the spinoff and listing of the U.K. drug giant’s consumer health care division. 

Lewis, who is currently advising the U.K. government on the supply chain crisis, will become non-executive chairman of the as-yet-unnamed company in January, Glaxo said in a statement Monday. 

The drugmaker said it remains on track to separately list the consumer arm, which owns brands including Panadol painkillers and Sensodyne toothpaste, in 2022. The company will seek a premium listing on the London Stock Exchange. 

Glaxo shares fell as much as 2.1% in early London trading Monday. 

Lewis spent most of his career working at Unilever Plc, one of the world’s largest consumer groups, but made his name turning around Tesco, Britain’s biggest supermarket chain, after it was left reeling from an accounting scandal. He will work alongside Brian McNamara, who is chief executive officer designate for the new company. 

In October, Glaxo announced the location of its new consumer health-care headquarters in Weybridge, England, just over an hour outside London, amid growing scrutiny over its plans to split in two next year.

The drugmaker faces pressure after two activist investors took stakes and publicly disagreed with parts of its strategy. Elliott Investment Management, an aggressive activist fund, has pressed for Glaxo to be more open to a possible sale of the consumer division.

Elliott has also called for Glaxo to conduct a search for a new CEO for the pharma and vaccines business that will be left after the consumer spin-off, on concern current chief Emma Walmsley lacks scientific expertise. Glaxo maintains that Walmsley will helm the business. 

Glaxo has also said that despite speculation about a sale of the consumer arm, other investors have said they want to own shares in the demerged business.

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