Kimberly-Clark said on Monday it will buy Tylenol maker Kenvue KVUE.N in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $48.7 billion, to create one of the biggest consumer health goods companies in the United States.
Shares of Kenvue were up 18% in premarket trading, while Kimberly-Clark‘s shares were down 12.5%.
Kenvue has been under a strategic review, leadership shake-up, and mounting litigation risks. It came under fresh scrutiny following President Donald Trump’s comments linking its popular pain medicine Tylenol to autism.
The deal will bring together brands including Neutrogena, Huggies and Kleenex under a consumer health and personal care company with expected combined annual revenues of roughly $32 billion.
Sources in June told Reuters the strategic review of its operations could include a sale or breakup of the company that had been spun off from healthcare conglomerate Johnson & Johnson JNJ.N in 2023.
Kenvue‘s shareholders will receive $3.50 per share and 0.15 Kimberly-Clark shares for each Kenvue share held. That implies a per-share deal value of $21.01, or an equity value of $40.32 billion, according to Reuters calculations.
