Now that Sanofi-Aventis has gone public with its buyout offer for Genzyme, there's a daily raft of news--and pseudo-news--about the potential deal. Today's no exception. The latest? Sanofi denies that it soft-pitched a higher price to Genzyme officials, as a DealReporter story said yesterday. Meanwhile, Genzyme investors are agitating for more money and the market seems to approve Sanofi's dealmaking action.
"There is one offer, at $69 a share," Sanofi spokesman Jean-Marc Podvin told Reuters. Podvin told the news service that Sanofi remains anxious to get deal talks going with Genzyme's leadership. When Sanofi chief Chris Viehbacher and CFO Jerome Contamine met with investors this week, they said the same thing: "Sanofi's saying we have no problem paying more," ISI Group analyst Mark Schoenebaum told Bloomberg. "[W]e just want to have a talk with someone at the company, and they're not returning our calls."
Bloomberg's sources say Genzyme investors are pushing for $75, a number that's often cited by people close to the deal. One shareholder told the news service that activist investor Carl Icahn is advocating for a sale, but no word on his threshold price.
Whatever the daily details, investors appear to be in favor of Sanofi's run at Genzyme. As Reuters reports, Sanofi's market value has grown by $4.8 billion since Viehbacher made his offer public. Several investment firms have raised their ratings of the stock too. The market seems to think that buying Genzyme would solve some of Sanofi's problems.
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