Deals
Sanofi Said to Dangle $2 Billion Pipeline Prize to Woo Actelion
- Companies said to discuss CVR worth about $20 per share
- Genzyme history suggests holders won’t get full CVR value
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Actelion Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Jean-Paul Clozel is known for his faith in the Swiss drugmaker’s experimental medicines, an optimism that may have helped scuttle a deal with Johnson & Johnson. New suitor Sanofi has the perfect negotiating tool.
The French company’s takeover offer may include a contingent value right, or CVR, worth about $20 of the $275 price per Actelion share under negotiation, said two people familiar with the discussions. The financial tool, little-known in the pharma industry before Sanofi used it almost six years ago in the $20.1 billion acquisition of Genzyme Corp., lets an acquirer agree to a base price plus an additional amount only if experimental medicines work out.