Aventis invites Novartis to enter negotiations
The supervisory board of Aventis has mandated the management board to enter into negotiations with Novartis on the terms and conditions of a potential combination and to pursue discussions with the relevant authorities in France and Germany to address their specific issues.
The supervisory board of Aventis has mandated the management board to enter into negotiations with Novartis on the terms and conditions of a potential combination and to pursue discussions with the relevant authorities in France and Germany to address their specific issues.
The supervisory board reiterated its belief that the unsolicited offer made at the beginning of the year by Sanofi-Synthelabo is not in the best interests of Aventis, its shareholders and its employees.
'We are inviting Novartis to enter negotiations because we believe that such a combination would offer significant advantages for Aventis shareholders and employees as it would create the leading European pharmaceutical company with an attractive portfolio, a strong product pipeline and outstanding r&d capabilities,' said Juergen Dormann and Jean-Rene Fourtou, chairman and vice chairman of the Aventis supervisory board in a joint statement. 'We are aware of the views of the French and German governments and Aventis will do its best to address them.'