BRIDGEWATER, New Jersey (AP) -- French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis SA says it's sticking to its original offer of $69 per share to buy U.S. biotech company Genzyme Corp.
That's despite rumors that Paris-based Sanofi has upped its offer by $2 a share, two months after its first overture to Genzyme. The Cambridge, Massachusetts, company has rejected the $69 offer, which would make the deal worth $18.5 billion, saying that undervalues Genzyme.
With media in Europe reporting a higher offer of $71 per share, a Sanofi spokesman in the U.S. says the company hasn't changed the price it proposed two months ago.
Meanwhile, spokesman Jack Cox confirms that Sanofi CEO Chris Viehbacher has been meeting privately with Genzyme shareholders in the U.S. this week to promote the offer.
