Sanofi-Aventis agrees to snap up Merck’s stake in Merial venture
FRENCH drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis is understood to have agreed to buy the stake it does not already own in the Merial animal healthcare business from its US partner Merck.
The acquisition is set to be announced this week, two people familiar with the situation said. They did not disclose the price of the transaction, but analysts estimate that Merck’s stake in the business is worth somewhere between $3bn and $5bn.
At Sanofi’s results news conference earlier yesterday chief executive Chris Viehbacher said Sanofi was interested in expanding its animal health business but declined to comment specifically on Merial.
Viehbacher had already said in April he was open to buying Merck’s part of Merial.