Sanofi-Aventis Nabs Deals

Sanofi-Aventis and Merck reached an agreement under which Merck will sell its 50% interest in the companies' current animal health joint venture, Merial, to Sanofi-Aventis for $4 billion in cash. Merck, Sanofi-Aventis, and Schering-Plough also signed an agreement under which, following the closing of Merck's acquisition of Schering Plough, Sanofi-Aventis would have the option to combine the Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health business with Merial to form a new animal health joint venture with Merck. Meanwhile, Sanofi-Aventis says it has agreed to acquire a controlling interest in Indian vaccine maker Shantha Biotechnics for an undisclosed sum. Under the terms of the accord, Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines unit of Sanofi-Aventis, will acquire ShanH, a division of Mérieux Alliance, a French biotechnology company that owns 80% of the Mumbai-based firm. The deal values Shantha, which is expected to have sales this year of about $90 million, at $776 million. Sanofi-Aventis has been on an acquisition streak in recent months, purchasing generic drug firms in Brazil and Mexico, and BiPar Sciences, a cancer drug firm in Brisbane, Calif. Earlier this year, the French drug major took over Zentiva, a Prague-based generic pharmaceutical firm serving Eastern Europe and Turkey.