The WSJ reports that insiders from Sanofi and Genzyme say the companies are nearing an agreement on the value of a CVR that would put Sanofi's tender offer for Genzyme at $80/share (or $20.7 B). At that price, the feeling is that Genzyme would entertain its sale to Sanofi.
The CVR, or contingent value right, would be based largely on milestones related to the sale of Genzyme's Campath after it was approved. The CVR will help the companies narrow their difference of opinion on what Campath's sales will be for the treatment of MS. Sanofi estimates peak sales hitting $700 M per year while Genzyme places the value at closer to $3.5 B per year - quite a spread.
Genzyme's Termeer and Sanofi's Viehbacher are both supposed to speak at the same health care conference on Tuesday this coming week. Neither company would make an official statement in reference to this report. Sanofi's current tender at $69 per share is set to expire on Jan 21st - this after it has been extended once.
Posted by Bruce Lehr Jan 8th 2011.
More on these talks from a story in Reuters on Sunday Jan 9th
http://reut.rs/h9gKDY
Posted by: bigredbruce | 01/09/2011 at 07:31 PM