Mumbai, Aug. 11: French pharma major Sanofi-Synthelabo today announced an open offer for up to 20 per cent of Aventis Pharma Ltd, India (APLI) at Rs 792.20 per share.
The offer for 46.06 lakh shares, which will cost Sanofi Rs 364.89 crore, follows Sanofi’s takeover of Aventis.
Made through DSP Merrill Lynch, the offer would open on October 7 and close on November 5.
However, the offer price comes at an over 2 per cent discount to the closing price of Aventis Pharma on Bombay Stock Exchange. The scrip opened at Rs 790, shot to Rs 818 and ended at Rs 809.50, a gain of Rs 21 over its previous close. The stock saw 477 trades with over 9645 shares being transacted.
Sanofi’s bid for Aventis made earlier was supported by the French government on grounds of national interest. An earlier bid by Sanofi was rejected as too low by the Aventis supervisory council. Subsequently, Sanofi increased its offer to €55 billion in April.
The acquisition is expected to create the world’s third largest pharmaceuticals company. The US authorities approved the deal in July, subject to certain conditions.
The parent company holds over 50 per cent of Aventis Pharma India through its subsidiary, Hoechst AG. The domestic arm is present in therapeutic segments, including anti-infectives, metabolism, cardiology, CNS, arthritis and oncology.
Following the operational integration of Aventis Pharma India and Rhone Poulenc Rorer, the combined field-force was restructured in April 2001 into five teams to bring more customers in its fold.
It was subsequently divided into five teams, namely acute care (covering thrombosis and anti-infectives), chronic care (covering cardiovascular, metabolism, central nervous system), primary care (respiratory, vaccines, diuretics and metabolism), channel sales (covering commercial products from dermatology, analgesics and respiratory) and oncology.
Some of the company’s product categories include cardio vascular, metabolics, oncology, respiratory, vaccines, dermatology, analgesics. Some of its well known brands are Rabipur, Daonil, Combiflam, Novalgin, Baralgan, Allegra, Cardace, Clexane and Amaryl.
In India, Sanofi-Synthelabo commenced operations in April 1997 and has a workforce of over 200 personnel in sales and marketing and human resources.
