Herbert Smith Freehills advises Dr. Reddy's Laboratories on its £500 million acquisition of Haleon Plc's NRT business

Leading international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Limited (Dr. Reddy's), a global pharmaceutical company headquartered in Hyderabad (India) with listings on the Bombay Stock Exchange, National Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange, on its acquisition of Haleon plc's (Haleon) global portfolio of consumer healthcare brands in the Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) category outside of the United States. 

The portfolio acquired consists of Nicotinell, a global leader in the NRT category with an extensive footprint in over 30 markets spanning Europe, Asia including Japan, and Latin America. Nicotinell is the second biggest brand globally (excluding the United States) in the NRT category, and holds the first or second position in 14 of the top 17 global markets. 

Dr. Reddy’s acquired the share capital of Haleon's subsidiary for a total consideration of £500 million, with an upfront cash payment of £458 million and performance-based contingent payments of up to £42 million, payable in 2025 and 2026.

The Herbert Smith Freehills team was led by corporate / M&A partner and global co-head of pharmaceuticals Alan Montgomery and corporate / M&A partner Siddhartha Shukla, together with partners Harry Evans (commercial / IP), Christine Young (employment), Casey Dalton (tax), and Veronica Roberts (regulatory) and senior associate Mehdi Tedjani.  

The wider team included partners Andrew Wells, Andre Pretorius, Michael Aherne, Miriam Everett and Paul Ellerman, senior associates James Tryfonos, Katerina Jovanovska, George McCubbin, Christopher White and Duc Tran, and associates Arina Abgaryan, Dean Wanjala, Pauline Tang, Ananya Bajpai, Dami Ewedemi, Joshua Peters, Sungmin Cho, Khan Mir and Sara Lee.

Dr. Reddy’s team was led by Dr. Vivek Mittal, Global General Counsel, and Bryan Dixon, Regional GC – North America & Legal Head M&A for NA and Europe, and Samim Ahmed Ranju, Regional General Counsel – Europe. 

Alan Montgomery commented, "It has been a pleasure to closely work with the senior management of Dr Reddy's Laboratories on this strategically important transaction for them. The transaction demonstrates the firm's ability to combine its deep pharmaceutical and healthcare knowledge together with its global platform and transactional expertise."

Siddhartha Shukla added, "We're proud to have supported Dr. Reddy's on this complex transaction, and it's fantastic to see another leading India-headquartered business completing an ambitious strategic transaction on the global stage. Our India team works with a number of the country's leading corporates and has a track record in helping India-based pharmaceutical companies in their global expansion. Congratulations to Dr. Reddy's."

Vivek Mittal commented, “It was an absolute pleasure working with the entire HSF team on this very strategic transaction for us. The HSF team contributed tremendously towards every aspect of deal. Their domain knowledge and their M&A experience worked really well for us from negotiations, to signing to closing, and continuing. A special thanks to Alan, Siddhartha and the team. We look forward to collaborating again.”