Sanofi-Synthelabo and Aventis plan €54bn link

Pharmaceuticals-giant Sanofi-Synthelabo formally today announced plans to create the world’s third largest pharmaceutical company after making a new, “friendly” bid for the Franco-German Aventis company worth €54bn.

The new offer has been approved by Sanofi’s board, its main shareholders Total and L’Oreal as well as by Aventis’s management and supervisory boards, a statement said.

The offer that ends a three-month hostile takeover battle was made public last night by French authorities.

The merger – which must be approved by shareholders – would create a new world number three behind Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline.

Sanofi said the sweetened offer was filed on Monday in Paris, and will be filed in the United States and Germany during the next few days.

The new company would be called Sanofi-Aventis.

Jean-Francois Dehecq, chairman and chief executive of Sanofi-Synthelabo, is to be chairman and CEO of the new entity, the statement said.

Sanofi-Aventis’s board would be made up of 17 members, including Dehecq, eight members chosen by Aventis and eight members selected by Sanofi.