(Bloomberg) -- Private equity firms Advent International and PAI Partners are among suitors that submitted first-round offers for French drugmaker Sanofi SA’s consumer health division, according to people familiar with the matter.
Buyout firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice has also put in an initial bid for the Sanofi business, which sells over-the-counter products including Phytoxil cough syrups and Icy Hot pain relief gels, the people said. Some of the proposals valued the unit at as much as €15 billion ($16 billion), the people said.
CVC Capital Partners Plc and a separate consortium of Bain Capital and Cinven didn’t submit bids by the deadline, according to the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private.
Deliberations are ongoing, and some suitors could opt to team up later in the process, the people said. More bidders could still emerge, they added. Spokespeople for Advent, Bain, CD&R, Cinven, CVC and PAI declined to comment.
Sanofi is reviewing potential separation scenarios for the consumer health business with a transaction in the fourth quarter of 2024 at the earliest, a representative for the firm said, adding that the preparation is on track.
“We are keeping all options open, including a listing, and a sale, to maximize value creation for all our stakeholders,” the representative said.
Sanofi announced its plans to review all options to split the consumer health unit last October, as it looks to generate better long-term value from cutting-edge therapies, particularly in immunology or in vaccines. The drugmaker is likely to retain a significant minority stake in the business after any sale, which would reduce the amount of capital that bidders need to commit, people familiar with the matter have said. It’s also simultaneously moving forward with preparations for a possible listing of the business.
Sanofi Chief Executive Officer Paul Hudson said in a Bloomberg Television interview earlier this month that the company is talking to all interested parties, including private equity, with a capital markets option available to the company too. “There’s a huge amount of interest,” he said.
PAI has been hoping its status as the only French bidder should place it in a pole position to buy the business, Bloomberg News has reported. French state-own investment firm Bpifrance SACA is also looking at a potential investment the Sanofi arm and may team up with the winning bidder, its executive director Jose Gonzalo told reporters on July 4.
A potential sale of the OTC business could rank among the largest deals in Europe this year. It’s also progressing after the left-wing group surprisingly won a snap parliamentary election in France earlier this month, denying Marine Le Pen’s far-right coalition from getting a majority. President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday appointed a caretaker government as negotiations to find a new prime minister continue.
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