Genyzme deal
08.09.2010
Sanofi-Aventis Chief Executive Chris Viehbacher has stepped up his campaign to win Genzyme by meeting shareholders of the U.S. biotech company face to face, the French company said Tuesday.
Genzyme last week rejected an all-cash $18.5 billion takeover offer from the French drugmaker, setting the stage for a potentially hostile takeover battle. But Viehbacher has made it clear he would rather get his opposite number, Henri Termeer, to the negotiating table and is keen to sound out investors before making his next move.
more07.09.2010
Glaxosmithkline will not step in as a rival bidder for U.S. biotech Genzyme and take on Sanofi-Aventis, the British drugmaker's head of research and development told a French newspaper. "An offer by GlaxoSmithKline for Genzyme does not make sense. It is too expensive," Moncef Slaoui told Les Echos on the sidelines of the inauguration of a GSK research centre in France.
Analysts have said it looked unlikely a white knight would emerge and start a bidding war that could force French drugmaker Sanofi to significantly raise its $18.5 billion non-binding offer to buy Genzyme.
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