French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis said today it had extended its bid for US biotechnology group Genzyme without improving an offer that attracted only a fraction of Genzyme shares.
Sanofi's original offer of $69 per share, launched on October 4 after months of fruitless talks with Genzyme, expired at midnight New York time on Friday. As the deadline ran out, the offer had attracted only 0.9% of Genzyme's total ordinary shares in circulation.
The extended offer will run until January 21, the firm said in a statement, adding that the terms were unchanged despite a rejection by Genzyme of the $18.5 billion bid on grounds that it undervalued the group.
'In order to give holders of ordinary shares of Genzyme more time to bring their shares to the public offering, it is now planned that the offering be extended until 23:59 pm New York time, January 21, 2011, unless there is a new extension,' the firm said in a statement.
Genzyme since September has pressed for a higher bid as a condition for taking part in formal talks, an overture Sanofi has resisted.
Genzyme specialises in rare disease treatments. The dispute over the financial value of Genzyme reflects the difficulty in determining how quickly the company can recover from serious production problems with two of its leading treatments, which stem from contamination at a Genzyme plant.
To be successful, Sanofi would have to attract a majority of Genzyme shares and would need approval by the Genzyme executive board.
Another stumbling block for Sanofi has been the assessment of future sales of Campath, a treatment for multiple sclerosis marketed by Genzyme. Sanofi has so far had no official comment on the proposal.
Industry analysts have said that acquiring Genzyme would be a major step for Sanofi in a drive by big pharmaceutical groups to become active in biotechnology and treatments for rare diseases.
Such treatments require specific knowledge to develop but can be marketed at high prices and are difficult to copy by generic drug makers.
