Sanofi agreed to a €22.8 billion ($25.1 billion) asset swap with Germany’s Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH that purports to boost the French drugmaker’s business in selling over-the-counter drugs.
Sanofi will trade its animal-health business (Merial), valued at €11.4 billion, for Boehringer’s €6.7 billion consumer-health business. Closely-held BI will make a €4.7 billion cash payment to Sanofi.
The deal helps Sanofi CEO Olivier Brandicourt reshape Sanofi whose pharmaceuticals division has suffered declining sales of its best-selling insulin product. It also adds to the company’s growth in the consumer products space.
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