EU Greenlights Sanofi-Boehringer Business Exchange
August 04 2016 - 11:22AM
Dow Jones News
By Natalia Drozdiak
BRUSSELS--The European Union on Thursday greenlighted plans by
Sanofi SA to exchange its animal-health business for most of
Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH's consumer health-care business, on the
condition the companies divest a number of businesses selling
primarily over-the-counter products.
The European Commission, the bloc's antitrust regulator, said
either Sanofi or Boehringer would have to shed local businesses
selling products such as cough or headache medicine in France,
Ireland, Greece, Central Europe and the Baltics.
France's Sanofi and Germany's Boehringer first announced the
deal in December and have said they expect to close by the end of
this year.
As part of the asset swap, Boehringer will also pay Paris-based
Sanofi EUR4.7 billion ($5.26 billion). Sanofi says its
animal-health business has an enterprise value of EUR11.4 billion
and Boehringer's consumer health-care business has an enterprise
value of EUR6.7 billion. The deal doesn't include Boehringer's
consumer health-care business in China.
The EU said it initially had concerns the transaction would lead
to higher prices and less choice for consumers in the markets
mentioned, but that the remedies offered addressed the issues.
"The investigation found no competition concerns for the
majority of the products. However, the commission identified a few
markets where the two companies have very strong brands and with a
lack of alternatives to the companies' products," the EU said in a
statement.
Write to Natalia Drozdiak at natalia.drozdiak@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 04, 2016 11:07 ET (15:07 GMT)
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