Chris Viehbacher, the chief executive of Sanofi-Aventis of France, on Thursday left open the option of a $19bn takeover of US biotech company Genzyme as he unveiled second-quarter results for the French pharmaceutical group with earnings up nearly 8 per cent to €1.90 a share, reports the FT. Mr Viehbacher refused to “comment on specifics” but reiterated that one of the company’s top three priorities was to pursue external growth, including a focus on mergers and acquisitions of “small to medium-sized companies” with market capitalisation of up to $20bn.

This entry was posted by Paul Murphy on Thursday, July 29th, 2010 at 21:40 and is featured in The Closer (29 Jul 2010) . Tagged with Chris Viehbacher, Genzyme, sanofi-aventis. Edit this entry.