LONDON (Reuters) - Reckitt Benckiser's biggest shareholder the Reimann family's JAB Holdings BV, said it intends to sell around 4.9 percent of its stake in the British consumer goods group to bring its total holding down to 10.4 percent.
JAB said the placing of the 36 million shares reflects its desire to diversify its portfolio and invest in new opportunities. If the sale was made at Wednesday's closing price of 3,556 pence then the 4.9 percent stake would be worth nearly 1.3 billion pounds ($2.1 billion).
JAB is also the majority owner of U.S. cosmetics group Coty Inc which last month launched a $10 billion bid for rival Avon Products Inc.
"We see this as a way for JAB to help Coty, which it privately owns, fund the unsolicited bid for Avon or for other companies that Coty may decide to pursue," said analyst Pablo Zuanic at Liberum Capital.
The shares will be placed with institutional shareholders through an accelerated bookbuilding process to be carried out by Bank of America Merrill Lynch as the sole bookrunner.
JAB said it intends to keep a stake of at least 10 percent in Reckitt, the maker of Nurofen painkillers and Cillit Bang cleaners, and maintain its representation on the British group's board where JAB Chief Executive Peter Harf is Reckitt's non-executive deputy chairman.
JAB became the largest shareholder in Reckitt when Britain's Reckitt & Colman took over Benckiser, majority owned by the German Reimann family in December 1999 to form Reckitt Benckiser. ($1 = 0.6212 British pounds)
(Reporting by David Jones; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)