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The buzz at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference that is taking place in San Francisco this week is that Sanofi-Aventis and Genzyme are close to inking a deal. As you may recall, Sanofi made an unsolicited offer last summer to buy the troubled orphan drug manufacturer. Sanofi offered to purchase Genzyme for $69 per share but the offer was summarily rejected as “too low” by Henri Termeer, Genzyme’s embattled CEO who has been running the company for over 20 years since its inception.

The very public and often acrimonious haggling over the purchase price has become legion in some investment banking and bioventure circles. Nevertheless, most industry and financial analysts predict that Sanofi will prevail and ultimately acquire Genzyme possibly for a share price in the low to mid $70s.  Sanofi desperately needs Genzyme to get into the biotechnology fracas; a field that it seemingly chose to largely ignore for the past 20 years--go figure!  Consequently, it is likely that Sanofi will eventually give Genzyme everything it wants to consummate the deal

Yet, despite progress being reported from the conference, Termeer and Sanofi Aventis CEO Chris Viehbacher haven’t met face-to-face to discuss the terms of a possible deal. However, Viehbacher did mention that Sanofi was “still committed” to purchasing Genzyme.

Stay tuned for the next installment of the saga.

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!

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The Boston Globe reported today that this morning Henri Termeer, the embattled CEO of Cambridge, MA based Genzyme acknowledged for the first time that company was indeed up for sale. However, he was quick to point out that the $69 per share or $18.8 billion takeover bid from Sanofi Aventis was insufficient.

Over the past few days, Sanofi Aventis’ CEO Christopher A. Viehbacher turned up the heat on Termeer; forcing him to possibly take Sanofi’s latest offer directly to Genzyme shareholders. While Termeer acknowledged that the company was for sale, he hinted that other companies may join the bidding war to get the $75 per share price that the Genzyme board is seeking. 

The Sanofi Aventis-Genzyme situation is beginning to resemble the Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS)-ImClone standoff of two years ago. As you may recall, Jim Cornelius—BMS CEO at the time—publicly and repeatedly offered a “low-ball” price ($62 per share) to purchase ImClone despite admonishments from Carl Icahn, ImClone’s Chairman. As negotiations stalled, Icahn told Cornelius that there were other suitors who were willing to pay a higher price to acquire ImClone. Surprisingly, rather than continuing to negotiate in good faith, Cornelius decided to call Icahn’s “bluff.” In less than a week, Eli Lilly purchased ImClone for $70 per share ($6.5 billion); the price that Ichan had previously and publicly asked for to purchase the company.

Many of you already know that Icahn holds a substantial minority Genzyme stock position and is represented by two current Genzyme board members. That said, if I were Sanofi’s Viehbacher, I would proceed with extreme caution in future negotiations. Like him or not, Icahn is a financial genius and second-to-none negotiating M&A deals. 

Maybe Viehbacher ought to contact Cornelius for advice? Oh yeah...Cornelius retired as CEO earlier this year but he is still Chairman of the BMS Board of Directors. Maybe it is worth a call?

Stay tuned for new developments as the saga continues.

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!

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