Unilever to weigh raising Glaxo consumer unit offer

Bloomberg

Unilever Plc has held talks with banks about additional financing for a potential sweetened offer for GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s consumer products division, according to people familiar with the matter.
Some financial firms have discussed lending enough for a bid higher than 50 billion pounds ($68 billion) — the latest of three offers Glaxo has rejected for a bundle of brands including Advil painkiller and Sensodyne toothpaste.
Unilever hasn’t made a final decision on using the firepower, said the people, who requested anonymity as they aren’t allowed to speak publicly. The owner of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and Dove soap could eventually sell some non-core assets from the Glaxo portfolio to buyers including private equity firms, which could help fund an acquisition, the people said.
Glaxo over the weekend said it had rejected Unilever’s offers as too low after the UK consumer-products company confirmed its approach. The drugmaker said it’s sticking with plans to spin off the portfolio of brands.
Representatives for Unilever and Glaxo declined to comment.

Growth Prospects
Glaxo’s board is open to proposals but the latest bid late last year was not within a range the company would consider, the people said. The pharma giant talked up growth prospects for the unit, formed through a combination of its consumer labels with those of Pfizer Inc., which retains a minority stake.
A takeover would be one of the largest globally in the past twelve months, and would come at a time when merger and acquisition activity is at an all-time high. It would also be Unilever’s biggest-ever deal, advancing Chief Executive Officer Alan Jope’s ambition to execute bigger and bolder acquisitions to reshape the company’s roster of labels.