Only two of them have finally submitted an offer. On September 23, the French investment fund PAI Partners and the American Clayton Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) must submit their proposals to Sanofi to take over the French laboratory’s consumer healthcare division and its flagship, Doliprane.
For several months, this operation has been emerging as a potentially major one in the French pharmaceutical industry, with valuations regularly estimated at over 15 billion euros. Neither bidder has disclosed, at this stage, the amount they would commit to. According to a source close to the matter, “The State would also like to see Bpifrance around the table“, in association with one of the offerors, “but nothing is confirmed».
No decision is planned in the short term on the part of Sanofi. In October 2023, the French laboratory had announced its desire to separate this activity with a turnover of 5.18 billion euros in 2023, 11,000 employees, which brings together 117 brands in the areas of pain, allergy and digestive health. But it is no longer part of the strategic priorities, the group favoring immunology, rare diseases or even vaccines.
Initially, the preferred option seemed to be an IPO with Sanofi retaining a significant stake in the capital. A model that had been applied to the former chemical division of active ingredients for third parties, which became EuroAPI. The financial setbacks of the activity since this IPO in 2022 could perhaps encourage Sanofi to finally opt for a more frank separation in the Consumer Healthcare file.
Sanofi not expected to make a decision before the fourth quarter of 2024
This possible sale remains a politically sensitive issue. Firstly because Doliprane is a very strong brand in France – and nowhere else –, accessible without a prescription and constituting an essential integral part of basic medicines in the country, at all ages. The case is also industrially sensitive since two factories are concerned: that of Compiègne, in Oise and that of Lisieux, in Calvados, where Sanofi has committed in 2023 an investment of 20 million euros to further strengthen production capacities after an increase in rates since the Covid-19 crisis. In a press release, Sanofi assures that “no decision has been made yet“, he continues “to study potential separation scenarios“, and that any “transaction” would be enacted “at the earliest in the fourth quarter of 2024».
Source: www.usinenouvelle.com
