Sanofi-Aventis and Genzyme Corporation France's largest...

Sanofi-Aventis and Genzyme Corporation
France's largest pharmaceutical company, Sanofi-Aventis (SNY), decided to buy American biotech company, Genzyme Corporation.At the time, Genzyme had developed several drugs to treat rare genetic disorders. The biotech also had several more drugs in its research and development pipeline. Sanofi-Aventis was eager to expand its presence in what it believed was a lucrative niche and saw Genzyme as a prime takeover target.After approaching Genzyme's management several times with a friendly takeover proposal and being rebuffed, Sanofi-Aventis decided to increase pressure by embarking on a hostile takeover. Sanofi-Aventis Chief Executive Officer, Chris Viehbacher, began courting Genzyme's major shareholders directly, meeting with them privately to gather support for the acquisition.10The strategy worked, and nine months after the first proposal, Sanofi-Aventis bought Genzyme in a $20.1 billion cash offer. The company sweetened the deal by offering shareholders contingent value rights. These bonus payments are linked to the sales performance of Genzyme's newest drugs and could offer shareholders a potential $3.8 billion in additional payments.

I could potentially live with something like that if a highly qualified mob came in to significantly speed things up.