Sanofi bids $2.55B for remaining Zentiva stock

French drug major Sanofi-Aventis has offered to buy the shares of Czech generics company Zentiva it does not already own for 40.04 billion koruna ($2.55 billion), eclipsing an offer made last month by Dutch conglomerate PPF.

The Paris-headquartered firm, which is Europe's second-largest drugmaker after GlaxoSmithKline, already owns 25% of Zentiva versus PPF's 20% stake. Sanofi's 1,050 koruna per share bid for the rest of the company's stock is 11% higher than the May 2 offer by PPF and 15% more than the Czech firm's closing price on April 30, the day before the first bid was made. On the day of Sanofi's latest offer, June 18, Zentiva shares jumped 6.4% to 1,106 koruna, on speculation that another offer was imminent.

In a statement, Sanofi said that it is already established in the various markets where Zentiva operates and that the acquisition "carries a strong strategic rationale." Zentiva holds leading positions in the Czech, Turkish, Romanian