Domino Effect: Nestle Sale of L'Oreal Could Trigger Sanofi Move
- L’Oreal is biggest Sanofi shareholder, with a 9.4% stake
- Cosmetics company could sell Sanofi to pay for share buyback
Nestle Targeted by Dan Loeb in $3.5 Billion Bet
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Activist investor Dan Loeb’s pressure on Nestle SA to sell its stake in L’Oreal SA could lead to the unwinding of another long-standing investment: L’Oreal’s 10.4 billion-euro ($11.6 billion) holding in French drugmaker Sanofi.
L’Oreal owns about 9.4 percent of Sanofi, and speculation has swirled for years that the Paris-based cosmetics company would sell the stock to help pay for a repurchase of Nestle’s L’Oreal shares. The pharmaceutical company’s stock has returned 13 percent a year over the past five years, including dividends, though the shares are down about 12 percent from a record of 100.65 euros set in 2015.