French drugmaker Sanofi-Synthelabo said this morning it had made an improved €55 billion offer for Franco-German rival Aventis.
The new offer, which promises to create the world's third-largest pharmaceuticals group, follows a three-month battle by Aventis to fend off a hostile €47 billion stock-and-cash offer made by Sanofi in January.
The Strasbourg, France-based company had turned to Swiss competitor Novartis in a bid to thwart the Sanofi offer but was pushed to negotiate with Sanofi by the French government, which favoured the creation of a national drugs champion.
Under the new bid, which Sanofi said was approved by the Aventis board, Sanofi is offering five of its shares for each six Aventis shares held, plus €120 in cash.
There are also subsidiary all-cash and all-stock offers, but the cash part of the bid will be limited to 29 per cent of the total offer.
The principal offer is valued at close to €54 billion. A combination would create the world's third-largest drugs firm after US giant Pfizer and Britain's GlaxoSmithKline.