French pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis has agreed to buy biotechnology company Genzyme in a deal worth just over €20 billion.
The deal, which has been unanimously approved by the boards of both companies, is expected to be completed early in the second quarter of 2011.
Genzyme has around 10,000 employees around the world, including 500 in Waterford, where it set up operations in 2001.
Separately, Genzyme released results for the final quarter of 2010 and the full year. Net profits for the year were flat at $422m, while revenue rose slightly to just over $4 billion.
For the fourth quarter, revenue rose 23% from a year earlier to $1.15 billion, while net profits jumped to $471.9m.
