Newell Brands Inc. said June 11 that it expanded its share repurchase authorization by $2.5 billion, which gives the consumer goods company a total of $3.6 billion to buy back outstanding shares through Dec. 31, 2019.
Newell's common shares may be bought back through a 10b5-1 automatic trading plan, discretionary purchases on the open market, private transactions, accelerated share repurchase arrangements, privately negotiated transactions or any combination of those.
The company still expects after-tax proceeds of about $10 billion from asset divestitures and will use the proceeds for deleveraging and share repurchase, according to the release.
The company announced June 5 that it will sell its sports equipment manufacturing unit, Rawlings Sporting Goods Co. Inc., to a fund managed by Seidler Equity Partners LP for about $395 million. It also sold its food packaging unit, The Waddington Group, to Novolex Holdings LLC, owned by private equity firm Carlyle Group LP, for about $2.3 billion in May.
