PHARMACEUTICALS EXPORT PROMOTION COUNCIL (Set up by Ministry of Commerce, Govt. of India) COPY Date : 05-10-2010 News / Story reproduced with thanks: Business Standard begins $18.5-bn hostile offer for

Bloomberg / Paris October 05, 2010, 0:45 IST

Sanofi-Aventis SA began an $18.5 billion hostile takeover offer for Genzyme Corp after the US biotechnology company spurned Sanofi s $69-a-share bid as too low and refused to negotiate.

Sanofi, France s largest drug maker, started a tender offer to acquire all outstanding shares of Genzyme for $69 each, the Paris-based company said in a statement today. The offer expires on 11:59 pm in New York on December 10.

We believe the offer will be successful, Sanofi Chief Executive Officer Chris Viehbacher said during a conference call with reporters today. While Sanofi is still open to talks with Genzyme, Viehbacher sees no particular reason to bid more. Sanofi is a patient and disciplined buyer, Viehbacher said.

Investors who own more than 50 per cent of Genzyme indicated in meetings with Viehbacher that they were willing to sell their shares at a reasonable price, the 50-year-old executive said at a conference on September 15. Conversations also revealed that those shareholders were frustrated with Genzyme s persistent refusal to have meaningful discussions regarding Sanofi-Aventis proposal, he said.

Genzyme, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, rejected the original offer as too low and has since blocked at every turn all of Sanofi s efforts to negotiate, Viehbacher said. A meeting between Viehbacher and Genzyme Chief Executive Officer on September 20 proved unproductive, and the two CEOs haven t spoken since.

Silly If they can t get through Genzyme s management, they d be silly not to approach the shareholders directly, Phil Nadeau, an analyst at Cowen & Co in New York, said in a September 30 interview. Nadeau has an outperform rating on Genzyme. Genzyme s stock sank as much as 43 per cent from its 2008 high.

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