Slumping shares and setbacks make GSK a target for activist investors

Although GSK has declined to comment on reports that Elliott Management has built up a “substantial” position in the British pharma, a string of setbacks has deflated GSK’s valuation enough in the past year to provide an opening for the activist investor to build a position in company.

GlaxoSmithKline plc (LSE:GSK; NYSE:GSK) rose 58.80p to 1,348.40p in London and $1.56 to $37.69 on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday after The Financial Times and Bloomberg confirmed the news via undisclosed sources. But the pharma’s shares have slumped 30% in the past 15 months from a five-year high in January 2020 following setbacks ranging from the failure of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine development program to Wednesday’s announcement that was discontinuing treatment with ICOS agonist feladilimab in two Phase II head and neck cancer studies...