Sanofi-Aventis dismissed suggestions by bid target Genzyme that it had opened the door to paying a higher price for the US biotech firm, deepening an increasingly fractious takeover battle.
Genzyme said yesterday that Sanofi's chief executive had dangled the possibility of paying as much as $80 per share for the US biotech company at a meeting in September before going hostile with a lower bid worth $69 share.
French pharmaceuticals giant Sanofi disputed this.
"We offered no price range and Genzyme continued to refuse to engage with us on discussions on valuations," Sanofi chief spokesman Jean-Marc Podvin said.
Genzyme shares rose to a year-high of $73.05 in after hours US trading, more than $4 above Sanofi's current offer of $69, which values the business at $18.5 billion.
Sanofi shares dipped 0.2 per cent in early trading in Paris to €48.95 a share.
Sanofi wants to add Genzyme, the world's largest maker of drugs for rare genetic diseases, to its portfolio to help drive earnings growth through a "cliff" of patent expiries on established blockbuster drugs.
The latest twist in the transatlantic takeover fight revolves around conflicting acounts of what happened when the chief executives held thir only face-to-face meeting concerning the bid on September 20th.
According to a Genzyme securities filing, Sanofi chief executive Officer Chris Viehbacher proposed on that date to Henri Termeer, his counterpart at Genzyme, that the two sides discuss a deal price range of $69 to $80 per share.
Mr Viehbacher, acording to Genzyme, said the price range was "manageable", but doubted he could reach the higher end based on his current understanding of the company's business.
Two weeks after the meeting, France's Sanofi took its $69 per share offer directly to Genzyme shareholders.
Sanofi denied making any kind of offer at the meeting. "We strongly disagree with Genzyme's characterisation of the Sept. 20 meeting between the CEOs," Mr Podvin said.
"At that meeting we made a variety of efforts to move the process forwards, including discussing the merits of our $69 per share offer and we tried to understand if media reports about Genzyme's price expectations were accurate," the Sanofi spokesman added.
Reuters