GlaxoSmithKline sold half its stake in Aspen Pharmacare of South Africa for 10.5 billion rand (€802 million) to invest in new priorities as the UK's largest drugmaker reorganises.

Glaxo sold about 28.2 million shares in Africa’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturer through institutional investors for 372 rand a share, Aspen said in a statement on Friday.

That’s almost eight times their value when they were issued to Glaxo six years ago. Aspen stock fell as much as 6 per cent, the most since June.

Glaxo is reorganising amid a slump in sales and profit as its best-selling product, the asthma drug Advair, faces increased competition in the US.

The company completed a deal with Novartis last year to sell its oncology franchise and acquire the Swiss drugmaker’s vaccines business.

Glaxo sold the same number of Aspen shares in November 2013, raising about 7 billion rand. Its stake is now about 6.2 per cent.

The company can’t sell more shares for at least 180 days, Glaxo said.

“Our investment in the company has grown in value significantly over time,” Glaxo chief financial officer Simon Dingemans said in a statement on Thursday.

“As we continue to reshape the group around our core franchises and drive the benefits from the Novartis transaction, optimizing our financial flexibility to invest behind these priorities is key.”

Aspen issued shares to Glaxo in May 2009 in return for the rights to to distribute the London-based drugmaker’s products in South Africa and as part of an agreement to market and sell medicines in sub-Saharan Africa.

The stock traded at 48 rand that day, compared with Friday’s selling price of 372 rand.

Aspen, which supplies medicines in about 150 countries, has spent more than $2 billion in the last two years buying assets from London-based Glaxo and Merck to expand its geographic reach.

Bloomberg