By Dhirendra Tripathi

Investing.com – GlaxoSmithKline ADRs (NYSE:) traded 1.3% lower in Monday’s premarket as fears over the fast-spreading Omicron virus overshadowed the appointment of Dave Lewis to head its new consumer healthcare company.

Lewis will be the non-executive chair of Tesco. He left Tesco (OTC) in last year’s end after six years. His reign saw him oversee a clean-up after an accounting scandal that rocked the retail chain shortly after his 2014 arrival.

He joined Tesco from Unilever (NYSE:), where he earned the nickname ‘Drastic Dave’ for fixing businesses through cost cutting and innovative marketing, according to Reuters.

Lewis was also a member of Sky’s board and currently serves as a director at PepsiCo (NASDAQ): Lewis has been consulting the U.K. government over the past two months on improving supply chain issues which have affected the British economy and sent energy prices soaring.

The separation of consumer healthcare will be by way of a demerger in mid-2022, in which at least 80% of GSK’s holding will be spun off to shareholders. It is anticipated that the new company will be listed on the London Stock Exchange as a premium stock.

A Bloomberg October report said that private equity firms are considering the sale of the existing unit. They estimate the value at up to $54 trillion.

Brian McNamara was appointed as the CEO of the company’s new consumer healthcare business in July.

GSK stock suffered a smaller decline than Monday’s overall U.K. markets, which were reeling from the threat of new mobility restrictions that would lower the Covid-19 infected rate.

Due to Omicron’s new transmissible Omicron variant, more Covid cases in the U.K. are being reported every day. So far, hospital admission rates – which have been the key driver of government policy – have not risen in parallel, but with cases now at a record high, Health Secretary Sajid Javid hasn’t ruled out stricter lockdown measures even before the holiday season.