Sanofi stalks Solvay

View an online version of this email here.  All times are London time: Wednesday Apr 01 2009 Breaking news Sanofi stalks Solvay Sanofi-Aventis, the world's fourth biggest drug maker, has been circling the pharmaceuticals division of Belgium's Solvay, FT Alphaville has learned. Sanofi is understood to have made a direct approach to Solvac, the family owned holding vehicle that controls 30 per of Solvay last month. Solvac, however, rejected the offer, which effectively valued the whole company at €7.2bn, of €85 a share. Solvac believes the company is worth in excess of €1o0 per share. On Wednesday morning, Solvay released a statement in response to rumours reported by the Financial Times which confirmed the company was "proceeding with an analysis of various options for its pharmaceutical activities". "Conducting this analysis involves various contacts and discussions with third parties. At this stage, this does not involve any other decision in this respect." FT Alphaville has learnt that Solvay has been consulting with Citigroup and Rothschild on options for the pharma business. One possibility could be selling the division to Takeda Pharmaceutical, Japan's largest drugmaker. The pharma business generates around half of Solvay's profits and could be worth as much as €4bn-€5bn on its own. Solvay shares jumped 11.3 per cent to €58.77. Solvay and Sanofi declined to comment, while a spokesman for Solvac was unavailable to comment. Solvay boasts a rich pipeline of drugs in late stage development at a time when many major players in the pharmaceuticals sector face patents expiry on some of their most cash generative treatments. This makes Solvay an attractive target for a larger peer like Sanofi. The French company's' new chief executive Chris Viehbacher has made it clear since his arrival earlier this year that he aims to expand the company through acquisitions. However, his favoured option would be to shift Sanofi from "an EU/US-centric pharma company to a global healthcare company". Solvay has 10 drugs in phase three clinical trials - the most notable including the Parkinson's disease treatment Duodopa and the flu vaccine Influvac. In spite of a 49 per cent drop in 2008 pre-tax profits, Solvay's pharmaceuticals division performed strongly, with sales rising 4 per cent year-on-year. Read more » ABOUT THIS EMAIL You have received this email because you have signed up for this briefing on FT.com Manage subscriptions | Unsubscribe | Change your email address Change whether you receive this email as HTML or plain text | Forward this email to a friend Privacy policy | Advertise | Contact © Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2009. "FT" and "Financial Times" are trademarks of the Financial Times. The Financial Times Limited, registered in England and Wales number 227590. Registered office: Number One Southwark Bridge, London SE1 9HL. VAT number GB 278 5371 21.