Sanofi

sanofi-aventis

File:SanofiAventisLogo.gif
Company type	Public (Euronext SAN, NYSE, LSE, and FWB)
ISIN	FR0000120578
Industry	Pharmaceutical
Founded	August 20, 2004 by merger
Headquarters	HQ in Paris, France
Key people	Jean-François Dehecq Chairman and CEO Gérard Le Fur Senior Executive Vice President
Products	Cardiovascular, central nervous system, oncology, and internal medicine formulations. Flagship products: Allegra® (allergy) Lovenox® (deep vein thrombosis) Plavix® (thrombosis) Avapro® (hypertension) Ambien® (insomnia) Eloxatin® (chemotherapy) Ketek® (ketolide antibiotic)
Revenue	27.311 billion euros (2005)    ($34.013 billion USD)
Operating income	7,875,000,000 Euro (2023)
Net income	5,400,000,000 Euro (2023)
Total assets	112,730,000,000 Euro (2019)
Number of employees	96,439 (2004)
Website	en.sanofi-aventis.com

Sanofi-aventis (Euronext: SAN, NYSE: SNY), headquartered in Paris, France, is one among the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, along with Pfizer,GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, and several others. Sanofi-Aventis engages in the research, development, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceutical products for sale principally in the prescription market, but they also develop over-the-counter medication. Sanofi-Aventis cover 7 major therapeutic areas: cardiovascular, thrombosis, oncology, diabetes, central nervous system, internal medicine and vaccines (with its subsidiary Sanofi-Pasteur).

Sanofi-Aventis was formed in 2004 when Sanofi-Synthélabo merged with Aventis. In early 2004, Sanofi-Synthélabo made a hostile takeover bid worth €47.8 bn against Aventis. Initially, Aventis rejected the bid because it offered inferior value based on the company's share value. The three-month takeover battle concluded when Sanofi-Synthélabo launched a friendly bid of €54.5 bn in place of the previously rejected hostile bid. Government intervention also played an active role. French government, desiring a local merger solution, put heavy pressure on Sanofi-Synthélabo to raise its bid for Aventis after it became known that Novartis, a Swiss pharmaceutical company, was in the running.

Sanofi-Synthélabo was formed in 1999 when Sanofi (former subsidiary of Total) merged with Synthélabo (former subsidiary of L'Oréal). The merged company was based in Paris, France.

Aventis was formed in 1999 when Rhône-Poulenc S.A. merged with Hoechst Marion Roussel, which itself was formed from the merger of Hoechst AG with Roussel Uclaf and Marion Merrell Dow. The merged company was based in Schiltigheim, near Strasbourg, France.

• Jean-François Dehecq, Chairman and CEO
• Gérard Le Fur, Senior EVP

Dehecq has been the General Manager of Sanofi since its creation in 1973.

• Breakdown of share ownership: 12.65% by Total, 10.13% by L'Oréal, 5.47% treasury shares, 1.29% employees, the remaining 70.46% are publicly traded.
• Voting right distribution: 21.37% to Total, 17.12% to L'Oréal, 1.54% to employees, and 59.97% to the public.

In 2003, sanofi-aventis's consolidated sales was €25 bn. It has operations in more than 100 countries throughout the 5 continents and has 99,700 employees worldwide. Research and development investment was €4 bn.

• Sales by activity breakdown: 39% from Cardiovascular/Thrombosis, 29% from Central Nervous System, 18% from Internal Medicine, 11% from Oncology, 3% from other pharmaceutical products.
• Sales by geographic area breakdown: 58% from Europe, 24% from U.S., 18% from rest of the world.

The Aventis Prizes for Science Books, which celebrate the very best in popular science writing for adults and children, have grown to be one of the world's most prestigious non-fiction literary prizes.

The Aventis Prizes are managed by the Royal Society, the UK national academy of science, and the Aventis Foundation, a German charitable trust established in 1996 as the Hoechst Foundation with an endowment of €50 million. In 2000 the foundation was renamed the Aventis Foundation subsequent to the 1999 merger of Hoechst and Rhône-Poulenc.

• Yahoo! - sanofi-aventis Company Profile

• Official site
• Aventis Foundation
• Aventis Prizes for Science Books
• sanofi pasteur - The vaccines business of sanofi-aventis Group