Doliprane, the best-selling drug in France, is about to come under American control: Sanofi announced on Friday that it was negotiating with the American investment fund CD&R to cede control of its over-the-counter products subsidiary Opella.
In a brief statement, the French pharmaceutical group declared that it had "started negotiations with CD&R for the potential sale of a controlling stake in 50% in Opella", confirming information published in the press on Thursday evening.
He did not provide any details on this large-scale operation but indicated that he would communicate "in due course, when a decision has been taken" concerning his subsidiary which oversees around a hundred brands including the popular Doliprane, Mucosolvan, Maalox, Novanuit, etc.
This announcement around "the biggest operation of this year in the pharmaceutical sector in Europe", according to Gregoire Kounowski, investment advisor at Norman K, had no impact on the Sanofi share price on Friday on the Paris Stock Exchange.
According to the economic newspaper Les Echos, the potential American buyer has offered more than 15 billion euros to get its hands on Opella, which claims to be the world number three in non-prescription medicines, vitamins, minerals and food supplements.
This separation project was announced almost a year ago to allow Sanofi to accelerate innovation and position itself as a champion of immunology and Opella to concentrate on its field, considered closer to a consumer logic than to pharmaceuticals.
Since then, this split has raised concerns in France regarding the future of Doliprane, manufactured in Lisieux (Calvados) and Compiègne (Oise) and the risks of relocation of its production.
Sanofi has been repeating for months that its separation from Opella does not mark the death of Doliprane and that the French will continue to find it in pharmacies.
– Maintaining the seat –
As proof, 50 million euros have already been invested over the last decade on the Lisieux site which produces almost all of the Doliprane, to which an additional 20 million euros are currently being added to increase the Doliprane production capacity by 40% in the coming years.
But vigilance remains required at executive level because the supply of paracetamol has experienced periods of tension during the winter of 2022-2023, in particular.
The Minister of Economy, Antoine Armand, and of Industry, Marc Ferracci, thus requested on Friday commitments from Sanofi and the future buyer aimed at guaranteeing the "maintenance of the headquarters and decision-making centers on the national territory" and "the French industrial footprint of Opella".
The fact that they want to "bring into play the procedure for controlling foreign investments in France could potentially block the operation," Mr. Kounowski believes, questioned by AFP.
In a press release, the LFI-NFP group demanded that the Ministry of Industry "block this sale" and called for the nationalization of Opella, which employs 1,700 people in France.
Opella may have French roots and Doliprane may be its second brand in terms of revenue, but France only represents around 10% of the group's sales, which achieved a turnover of 5.2 billion euros in 2023.
Another offer was made by the French fund PAI Partners alongside international co-investors but Sanofi preferred the American option which presented a higher offer, according to concordant sources.
A choice that can also be explained, according to these sources, by the fact that CD&R is a fund of 26 billion dollars, much larger than PAI (7 billion euros), which will have the money available to support Opella's growth.
This entity, present in 100 countries, has returned to growth over the past four years, but its performance (+6%) remains slightly below that of the market.
The fact that the United States is Opella's leading market with nearly 25% of its turnover also tipped the balance in favor of the American, who has also already made investments in France (Conforama, Rexel, Spie and Socotec).
In this separation project, Sanofi, which was hesitating between a stock market listing of its subsidiary or a sale, retains a significant share in Opella on which the national flag will therefore continue to fly.
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