Sanofi seeks 22.8b euro deal in asset talks with Boehringer

Geneva

SANOFI is in exclusive talks to swap assets with Germany's Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH in a 22.8 billion-euro (S$35 billion) transaction that would be the largest for the French drugmaker in more than a decade.

Sanofi's animal-health business, valued at 11.4 billion euros, and Boehringer Ingelheim's consumer-health operations, at 6.7 billion euros, would be traded, according to a statement on Tuesday. Closely held Boehringer Ingelheim would also pay Sanofi 4.7 billion euros in cash.

Shares of Sanofi jumped the most in more than four years. A deal would help chief executive officer Olivier Brandicourt reshape the Paris-based company, which is poised for sluggish earnings growth over the next two years amid declining sales of its best-sellin…