Sanofi-Aventis (Euronext: SAN, NYSE: SNY), headquartered in Paris, France, is one of the five largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, along with Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis, and GlaxoSmithKline. Sanofi-Aventis engages in the research, development, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceutical products for sale principally in the prescription market, but they also develop over-the-counter medication. Sanofi-Aventis cover 7 major therapeutic areas: cardiovascular, thrombosis, oncology, diabetes, central nervous system, internal medicine and vaccines (with its subsidiary Sanofi-Pasteur).

History

Sanofi aventis

Sanofi Aventis was formed in 2004 when Sanofi-Synthélabo acquired Aventis. In early 2004, Sanofi-Synthélabo made a hostile takeover bid worth €47.8 bn for Aventis. Initially, Aventis rejected the bid because it felt that the bid offered inferior value based on the company's share value. The three-month takeover battle concluded when Sanofi-Synthélabo launched a friendly bid of €54.5 bn in place of the previously rejected hostile bid. French government intervention also played an active role. The French government, desiring what they called a "local solution", put heavy pressure on Sanofi-Synthélabo to raise its bid for Aventis after it became known that Novartis, a Swiss pharmaceutical company, was in the running.

Sanofi-Synthélabo

Sanofi-Synthélabo was formed in 1999 when Sanofi (former subsidiary of Total) merged with Synthélabo (former subsidiary of L'Oréal). The merged company was based in Paris, France.

Aventis

Main article: Aventis

Aventis was formed in 1999 when Rhône-Poulenc S.A. merged with Hoechst Marion Roussel, which itself was formed from the merger of Hoechst AG with Roussel Uclaf and Marion Merrell Dow. The merged company was based in Schiltigheim, near Strasbourg, France.

Business

Management

• Jean-François Dehecq, Chairman
• Gérard Le Fur, CEO

Dehecq has been the General Manager of Sanofi since its creation in 1973.

Stockholders

• Breakdown of share ownership: 12.65% by Total, 10.13% by L'Oréal, 5.47% treasury shares, 1.29% employees, the remaining 70.46% are publicly traded.
• Voting rights distribution: 21.37% to Total, 17.12% to L'Oréal, 1.54% to employees, and 59.97% to the public.

Earnings

In 2003, Sanofi-Aventis's consolidated sales was €25 bn. It has operations in more than 100 countries throughout the 5 continents and has 99,700 employees worldwide. Research and development investment was €4 bn.

• Sales by activity breakdown: 39% from Cardiovascular/Thrombosis, 29% from Central Nervous System, 18% from Internal Medicine, 11% from Oncology, 3% from other pharmaceutical products.
• Sales by geographic area breakdown: 58% from Europe, 24% from U.S., 18% from rest of the world.

Aventis Foundation

The Aventis Foundation, a German charitable trust, was established in 1996 as the Hoechst Foundation with an endowment of €50 million. In 2000, the foundation was renamed the Aventis Foundation subsequent to the 1999 merger of Hoechst and Rhône-Poulenc. The foundation was responsible for sponsoring the Aventis Prizes for Science Books, which celebrate the very best in popular science writing for adults and children, and which have grown to be one of the world's most prestigious non-fiction literary prizes. In 2006, the foundation severed its connection with the prizes and from 2007 they have been known as the Royal Society Prizes for Science Books and are managed by the Royal Society, the UK national academy of science.

Company profiles

• Yahoo! - Sanofi-Aventis Company Profile