Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 26, 2025
1 min readLast updated: January 25, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleThe Sandoz family will receive $2.9 billion from selling part of their Novartis stake, reducing their shareholding in the Swiss pharma giant.
ZURICH (Reuters) - The investment vehicle of the Sandoz family will get 2.6 billion Swiss francs ($2.90 billion) from selling a chunk of Swiss pharma giant Novartis, the bookrunner on the deal said on Wednesday.
Emasan AG sold 26.5 million shares at a price of 98.25 Swiss francs in an accelerated bookbuilt offering, Goldman Sachs said.
The family foundation did not respond to a request for comment.
According to LSEG data, the Sandoz family was the third biggest shareholder in Novartis with a stake of 4.1%. This placed them behind BlackRock with 6.4% and UBS with 5.3%.
Novartis said the stake being sold by Emasan corresponded to roughly 1% of its outstanding shares.
"The vast majority of our shareholders are institutional investors with a long-term view, and we expect this to continue," a Novartis spokesperson said.
Sandoz was one of the two predecessor companies of Novartis. The pharmaceutical giant emerged in 1996 from the merger of the company with the pharmaceutical and chemical group Ciba-Geigy.
($1 = 0.8951 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Alexander Hubner and Oliver Hirt, writing by John Revill; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
The Sandoz family will receive 2.6 billion Swiss francs, equivalent to $2.9 billion, from selling a portion of their Novartis shares.
Goldman Sachs is the bookrunner for the sale of the 26.5 million shares of Novartis.
The Sandoz family holds a 4.1% stake in Novartis, making them the third largest shareholder.
Sandoz was one of the two predecessor companies that merged to form Novartis in 1996, alongside Ciba-Geigy.
A Novartis spokesperson mentioned that the majority of their shareholders are institutional investors with a long-term view.
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