Sanofi-aventis will acquire a controlling interest in Hyderabad-based vaccine company Shantha Biotechnics at a price which values the Indian company at 550 million $784 million.
Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of Sanofi-aventis, has signed an agreement with Merieux Alliance to buy Merieux's subsidiary ShanH, which in turn owns around an 80% stake in Shantha.
Shantha, which is not listed, is expected to have revenues of $90 million for the current fiscal year, and based on that, the agreed price translates into a firm value-to-sales multiple of 8.7 times. Sanofi-aventis is paying for the growth potential of Shantha, which has seen its sales multiply by 13 times from a revenue of Rs324 million...