Sanofi Offers Takeover of Aventis for $65 Billion
By Biotechdaily staff writers
Posted on 05 May 2004
In a move that would create the world's third largest pharmaceutical company and the largest in Europe, Sanofi-Synthelabo (Paris, France) has made a friendly takover bid of U.S.$65 billion in cash and stock for Aventis (Strasbourg, France), which has been approved by the Aventis board.Posted on 05 May 2004
The new company will be called Sanofi-Aventis and will rank only behind Pfizer and GaxoSmithKline in global pharmaceutical sales. The offer followed the news that Novartis (Basel, Switzerland) was interested in a merger with Sanofi-Synthelabo and will ensure that France will be home to a large pharmaceutical company, as desired by the French government.
To avoid regulatory concerns, Sanofi had earlier declared it would sell two blood-thinning drugs, Fraxiparine and Arixtra, and also the manufacturing plant in France where they are manufactured. The merger has already been approved by the European Commission.
Related Links:
Sanofi-Synthelabo
Aventis







