Generic medicines specialist Sandoz is to be listed on the SIX Swiss stock exchange as a fully independent entity on Wednesday after being spun-off by pharma giant Novartis.
Novartis took the decision to spin off its subsidiary in August 2022, as part of its own transformation towards becoming a more focused pharmaceutical company.
Novartis shareholders get one Sandoz title for every five shares. The same breakdown applies to American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). A total of 431 million shares will be issued, and Sandoz will be listed from the start in the Swiss Leader Index (SLI), which includes the 30 biggest listings on the Zurich stock exchange.
Based on initial pre-market indications, Sandoz’s market capitalisation is likely to be a little under CHF20 billion ($21.7 billion). Novartis was worth CHF209 billion on Tuesday evening.
“Today marks the beginning of a new era for Sandoz as an independent company, but our goal remains unchanged: to be a pioneer in access to medicines for patients,” Sandoz chairman Gilbert Ghostine said in a press release.
Sandoz was founded in 1886, while the pharmaceutical company Novartis was created in 1996 via a merger with Ciba-Geigy. Initially just part of a division, Sandoz became an independent reporting unit in 2005.