Freshfields has advised Boehringer Ingelheim in relation to the strategic global swap of its consumer healthcare business with Sanofi’s animal health business

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP (‘Freshfields’) has advised Boehringer Ingelheim in relation to the strategic global swap of its consumer healthcare business with Sanofi’s animal health business. Boerhinger Ingelheim is one of the world’s top 20 pharmaceutical companies, and Sanofi is a global life sciences company focused on healthcare.

Under the transaction, Boehringer Ingelheim’s consumer healthcare business will be transferred to Sanofi, except in China, and Sanofi’s animal health business will be transferred to Boehringer Ingelheim. Boehringer Ingelheim’s consumer healthcare business has an enterprise value of  €6.7bn and is the eighth largest consumer healthcare business in the world, and Sanofi’s animal health business, run by the Merial companies, has an enterprise value of €11.4bn. The two transactions are inter-conditional. The swap will strengthen both companies’ positions in their respective sectors of the pharmaceutical market.

The signing of the definitive agreements took place on 26 June 2016. It followed the execution of an exclusivity agreement on 15 December 2015. The simultaneous closing of the transactions is subject to antitrust and other regulatory approvals, and is currently expected by the year-end 2016.

The multi-jurisdictional Freshfields team was led by corporate partners Jennifer Bethlehem (London) and Jochen Dieselhorst (Hamburg). Specialist workstreams were led by Thomas Janssens (Brussels, Competition), Christian Ruoff (Hamburg, Tax), Andrew Murphy (London, HR),  Gwen Senlanne (Paris, HR) and Jochen Ellrott (Hamburg, Corporate).