It looks as if Sanofi-Aventis has made a concession. After Genzyme's board and CEO Henri Termeer (photo) stiff-armed the French drugmaker's $69-per-share buyout bid--saying they were so insulted by the price, it hardly merited an answer--Sanofi has come back with a new, $71-per-share proposal. Sanofi's hoping that sweeter bid would get it in the door for "partial due diligence," DealReporter says.
This informal offer really is as high as Sanofi's prepared to go without looking at Genzyme's records, Reuters reports. Sources tell DealReporter that the two companies discussed the new price during phone conversations late last week.
But will the extra $2 per share--for a total price of some $18.9 billion, according to Reuters' deal calculator--be enough for Genzyme? Apparently Sanofi CEO Chris Viehbacher (photo) isn't sure, or he wouldn't have spent hours upon hours meeting with shareholders this week.
- read the Reuters piece