This Friday, October 11, the French pharmaceutical group Sanofi confirmed the holding of negotiations with the American fund CD&R for the purchase of its subsidiary Opella. This operation would result in the Doliprane passing under the American flag.
Sanofi, one of the main French laboratories, today announced negotiations for the sale of its subsidiary Opella (which produces Doliprane and Lysopaine in particular). The subsidiary currently employs 11,000 employees and represents nearly 12% of the company’s turnover. Sanofi. Two offers were presented to the French group. On the one hand, the CD&R fund which offered the pharmaceutical group nearly 15 billion euros to obtain a controlling stake of 50%. On the other, the French fund PAI Partners, accompanied by sovereign funds ofAbou Dhabi Investment Authority and of Singapore GIC ; whose offer was however well below its American competitor.
A worrying situation for the French pharmaceutical sector
This situation is not an isolated case. The covid crisis, and the resulting shortage of masks, was already a first alert. However, it is clear that it was not followed by any effects. Even more worrying, at the beginning of 2024, the National Commission for Information Technology and Liberties (CNIL) authorized the hosting of French health data on the servers of Microsoftthreatening millions of sensitive data. In addition, the shortage of paracetamol during winter 2022 also showed the fragility of supply chains.
For its part, the government ensures that it is following the file Sanofi carefully and has already requested that “ the French industrial footprint of Opela » is kept. It should be remembered that this operation takes place one month after the laboratory gave up Servier to separate from its subsidiary Biogaranproof that another outcome remains possible.
Grégoire Melin
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