Novartis (NOVN) went some way towards mollifying its previously restive shareholders with the announcement of a new $5bn (£3bn) share buyback programme over the next two years. The buyback is partly funded by the $1.7bn sale of the company's blood diagnostic business to Spanish pharma company, Grifols (GRF).
The return of capital looks like an admission from management that Novartis buying spree of the past few years, which culminated in the $52bn takeover of Alcon in 2010, is at an end. Previous chief executive Daniel Vasella, who subsequently fell foul of a boardroom pay controversy, had built up a large global empire of diverse businesses, which now falls to new incumbent Joe Jiminez to reorganise. The emphasis now will be on higher value specialist medicines in the dermatology and oncology areas.
