Some Genzyme investors aren't willing to wait and see if the Big Biotech's board can be gradually lured to the bargaining table by Sanofi's slow motion M&A tactics. Frustrated by top management's refusal to sit down and see if they can work out a price, some shareholders are turning to the courts to see if they can prod Genzyme into opening up direct talks.
Two shareholders have already sued in federal court, looking for a judge to force reluctant Genzyme officials to formally consider Sanofi's $18.5 billion bid. Genzyme, asserts Bernard Malina, is denying shareholders like him a chance to "receive maximum value for their shares," according to a report from Bloomberg.
Genzyme's leaders, of course, have repeatedly made it clear that they believe Sanofi was doing some bottom fishing when it offered to buy the company at $69 a share. That figure, said CEO Henri Termeer, represents a premium for shares battered by the company's manufacturing woes. And Termeer thinks that the company is back on track to return to its glory days, when shares traded north of $80. When Genzyme suggested recently that Sanofi had mentioned it would be willing to discuss a price range stretching to $80, though, Sanofi officials heatedly denied doing any such thing.
That kind of back and forth is clearly wearing thin among some shareholders anxious to land a handsome return on their Genzyme bet.
- here's the Bloomberg report