Sanofi Is Said to Plan Major Acquisition in U.S.Sanofi-Aventis SA, France’s biggest drugmaker, is preparing a major acquisition in the U.S., according to five people with knowledge of the situation.
Chief Executive Officer Chris Viehbacher briefed the board on the transaction at a special meeting this week, said two of the people, who declined to be identified because the plan is confidential. The process is in very early stages and an agreement with the unidentified target may not be reached, the people said.
Viehbacher is counting on acquisitions to help replace revenue the Paris-based company is losing as its medicines face competition from lower-priced generic drugs. Sanofi has spent about $17 billion on 25 acquisitions since Viehbacher joined the company in 2008, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“Sanofi have made it very clear they generate lots of cash and part of their way of mitigating the patent cliff is reinvesting capital,” said Marc Booty, an investment manager at Pictet Asset Management Ltd. in London who helps oversee more than $100 billion, including Sanofi shares. “They’ve been very clear external growth is part of their plan.”
Based on conversations Sanofi has had internally and externally about its plans, the U.S. deal may be worth $20 billion or more, two of the people said. The French company generated 8.52 billion euros ($10.7 billion) in cash from operations last year, and had 4.1 billion euros in cash and equivalents on the balance sheet as of March 30.
Shares Drop
Jean-Marc Podvin, a spokesman for Sanofi, said the company does not comment on “market rumors or speculation.”
Sanofi fell 1.16 euros, or 2.4 percent, to 47.07 euros at 12:55 p.m. in Paris trading. The decline was the biggest among the 18 stocks in the Bloomberg Europe Pharmaceutical Index, which fell 0.3 percent.
Acquisitions allow big drugmakers to replenish their supply of newer drugs and cut costs by combining sales forces. In last year’s biggest deals, Pfizer Inc. bought Wyeth for $68 billion, and Merck & Co. bought Schering-Plough Corp. for $47 billion.
Sanofi is looking for new products as generic versions of cancer treatment Eloxatin and blood-thinner Plavix hurt sales. Drugs accounting for more than 20 percent of revenue face competition by 2013.
‘Growth Platforms’
Viehbacher has identified consumer health, emerging markets, new prescription drugs, vaccines and diabetes as “growth platforms” that will help Sanofi make up for lower revenue in the years to come. The company aims to keep 2013 earnings and sales at 2008 levels at least.
Sanofi did two to three acquisitions a month last year, and probably will do the same in 2010, Viehbacher said in a February interview. He said he preferred to stick to small or mid-sized deals of $15 billion or less.
Last year, Sanofi acquired Merck & Co.’s half of their Merial animal-health venture for $4 billion, Viehbacher’s biggest purchase so far. In March, Sanofi bought Chattem Inc., the U.S. maker of Gold Bond medicated powder and other non- prescription health products, for $1.9 billion.
The cost of protecting Sanofi debt from default rose today to the highest in more than a year. Credit-default swaps on the company increased 10 basis points to 77, according to CMA DataVision in London.
Drugmakers have announced about $83.5 billion of acquisitions in the past year. In the past month, Celgene Corp. agreed to buy Abraxis Bioscience Inc., a maker of drugs for solid-tumor cancers, for $2.9 billion. Grifols SA struck a $3 billion deal for Talecris Biotherapeutics Holdings Corp., and Valeant Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Biovail Corp. signed a merger pact.
To contact the reporters on this story: Albertina Torsoli in Paris at
atorsoli@bloomberg.net; Jacqueline Simmons in Paris at
jackiem@bloomberg.net.