PARIS (Reuters) – French Minister of Economy and Finance, Antoine Armand, said on Sunday he wanted “extremely strong guarantees” from Sanofi on the production of Doliprane, after the French laboratory announced plans to sell its consumer health division to an American fund.
Sanofi said on Friday that it had entered into exclusive negotiations with the American fund Clayton Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) to sell it 50% of Opella, its consumer health division which produces Doliprane – the best-selling drug in France.
“Producing Doliprane in France is our industrial, sovereign, health strategy, and it must remain so,” said Antoine Armand on BFM TV. “We will have to ask for extremely strong guarantees (…), likely to reassure in the medium term, both employees and the French,” he added.
Announcing that he would go on Monday in the company of the Minister Delegate in charge of Industry, Marc Ferracci, to the Sanofi site which produces Doliprane, in Lisieux (Calvados), he did not rule out the possibility of oppose this transfer if necessary, as it has the power to do, to protect French industrial sovereignty.
“I will have the opportunity to speak on these subjects tomorrow with the employees and their representatives (…) It is important to say that we are at their side and that we will indeed ask for very clear guarantees,” said declared Antoine Armand. “Nothing will seem forbidden to me at first.”
(Sybille de La Hamaide, written by Jean Terzian)
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