(AOF) – Sanofi has contacted banks to support it in the spin-off of its consumer health activities, Bloomberg announces. According to the media, this would be one of the biggest transactions in Europe this year, with an amount of around 20 billion dollars. Contacted by AOF, a Sanofi spokesperson indicated not to comment on “market rumors”.
“This operation will take place no earlier than the fourth quarter of 2024 and will be carried out via the creation of a listed entity, whose headquarters will be in France” indicated last October, when such an operation was announced. “The planned separation will aim to create two entities, each better equipped to pursue its own business strategy, allocate its resources and capital, and focus on the long-term growth of their respective markets,” the company explained at the time.
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Oncology, priority of pharmaceutical giants
Sanofi’s stock market disappointment recorded at the end of October 2023 underlines the new direction for the group, which has now set oncology as its number 1 priority. Efforts in this segment, where therapies are advancing the fastest, notably involve investments in R&D which weigh on profitability. Sanofi therefore announced a drop in its earnings per share in 2024 and the abandonment of its objective of an operating margin of 32% in 2025. Merck has just unveiled a new alliance. It will pay up to $22 billion to the Japanese group Daiichi Sankyo as part of a partnership on experimental cancer treatments. While some experts estimate that the United States represents nearly half of global oncology spending (drugs and treatments), or $196 billion in 2022, Chinese spending in this area has more than doubled in five years, going from 5 to 11.8 billion dollars.