Sanofi to push for 100 percent control of Aventis

French pharmaceutical group Sanofi-Synthelabo said it would push for 100 percent control of its former rival and newly acquired subsidiary Aventis after the French Financial Market Authority confirmed the success of its controversial take-over offer on Thursday.
A statement from Sanofi-Synthelabo said that "having acquired more than two-thirds of the capital and the voting rights in Aventis, it will reopen its bid to French, German and American shareholders for 17 days of trading on the stock markets", starting Friday.
The offer will close on September 6, the result will be announced on September 16 and shareholders will be paid on September 24, it said.
Sanofi said the price offered for the remaining stock would be "identical to that in its revised bid" which secured 89.84 percent of Aventis for 48 billion euros (58.56 billion dollars) at 68.11 euros a share.
The statement was released after the French Financial Market Authority confirmed preliminary results announced on Monday showing that Sanofi had acquired "89.84 percent of shares and 89.88 percent of the voting rights in Aventis".
Sanofi-Synthelabo also said that Aventis would formally become its subsidiary on August 20 and that the group would change its name to Sanofi-Aventis on that date.
The new group, with a scientific research budget of 4.2 billion euros, came into being despite weeks of fierce opposition by Aventis after the French government threw its weight behind the take-over, declaring it in France's strategic interest.
The French government's interventionist attitude was awakened by interest shown in Aventis by the Swiss drugs giant Novartis. It raised the ire of German officials and doubts about the devotion of French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin's cabinet to free-market practices common in other major economies.
Sanofi chairman Jean-François Dehecq will preside over the 17-member board of the new group, which will include eight others chosen by Sanofi and eight by Aventis.
Aventis chairman Igor Landau will be a board member but will not have an executive position. Sanofi has had to take on debt of 16 billion euros from banks in order to swallow up Aventis, which is two times bigger in terms of sales.