PARIS, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- France's biggest drug maker, Aventis, is accelerating asset sales to fend off a hostile takeover attempt by rival Sanofi-Synthelabo.
Aventis is expected to announce details Thursday of plans to sell non-strategic pharmaceutical businesses, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
The potential sale of weak assets is likely to include medicines that are older or face slower growth prospects and price competition from rivals, according to people familiar with the situation.
Such disposals could bring in cash of between $1.25 billion to $2 billion over the next few months and help persuade investors that Aventis is worth a lot more than Sanofi's $57.12 billion bid.
Although targets of hostile takeovers sometimes try to sell off core assets as part of their defense, the effort often doesn't get very far, the Journal said.
That's because the target's investors typically view such a move as a "scorched earth" strategy aimed more at entrenching current management than at creating value for its shareholders.
Also, any move to pursue an unusual alternative to the hostile suitor is often seen as an effort by the target to wrest a high price from the hostile suitor.
