Novartis: Sandoz Spinoff Looks on Track for Early October Following Shareholder Support

Following the recently announced shareholder support for the Sandoz spin-off, we expect Novartis to divest the unit in early October, likely by Oct. 4. We estimate the Sandoz generic drug business contributes just under 10% of Novartis' fair value estimate. Also, we believe the innovative drug segment provides most of the support for Novartis' wide moat, which largely rests on intangible assets driven by continual innovative drug development.