Unilever won’t top $68B bid for GSK consumer healthcare unit

LONDON (AP) — Unilever, the maker of Vaseline skin care products and Dove soap, says it won’t increase a 50 billion-pound ($68.2 billion) offer for GlaxoSmithKline’s consumer healthcare unit that was rejected last week. London-based GSK said Saturday that the bid “fundamentally undervalued” the unit. GSK said in a statement that the offer, which included 41.7 billion pounds in cash and Unilever shares valued at 8.3 billion pounds, was the latest of three unsolicited approaches from Unilever. Unilever responded late Wednesday, saying it wouldn’t increase the bid. After rejecting the Unilever offer, GSK said it remains focused on plans to spin off the consumer unit into a new independent company by the middle of this year.