Sanofi nabs Mexican drugmaker, eyes Solvay

Is Sanofi-Aventis double dealing? Today, the company announced that it bought Mexico's Laboratorios Kendrick, a generics maker with 15 percent market penetration in its home country. The company isn't huge--it reported 2008 sales of about $35 million--but with products covering an array of treatment areas, it should help Sanofi further its goal of growth in emerging markets.

Behind the scenes, however, Sanofi is said to be working on a bigger deal: The Financial Times reports that the company has been approaching Solvay's big shareholders about a buyout of the company's pharma unit. First on the list: Solvac, the family-owned holding company that controls 30 percent of the Belgian company. Solvac rejected Sanofi's $112-per-share offer, believing that the company is worth more than $132 per share.

Sanofi recently closed its purchase of the Czech generics maker Zentiva, and though CEO Chris Viehbacher (photo [1]) has put the kibosh on any talk of a mega-merger, he's said that Sanofi is certainly interested in small or medium-sized acquisitions. Stay tuned.

- see the release [2] from Sanofi
- read the Financial Times story [3]
- check out the article [4] at Pharmafocus

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