How Sanofi Was Caught in The Middle of a €16 Billion Public Brawl
US private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice thought it had a deal to buy Sanofi’s consumer business. Losing bidder PAI Partners had other ideas.
After a year-long takeover battle for the owner of France’s best-selling painkiller, Sanofi’s decision to sell its over-the-counter business to a US buyout firm descended into mudslinging, public rebukes and political discord.
The French drugmaker’s sale of a controlling stake in its Opella unit to US financial juggernaut Clayton Dubilier & Rice for €16 billion ($17.3 billion) was sealed over the weekend. The decision brought an end to an unusually fierce campaign — fought in private and public — by Paris-based rival PAI Partners, which refused to accept it had lost and tried to upend the transaction, triggering a rigorous response from the other side.