Aventis disposes of Behring unit with $925M sale to Australia's CSL

Franco-German drugmaker Aventis says that it has agreed to sell itsAventis Behring blood products business to Australia's CSL, in a deal which could be worth as much as $925 million to the European firm. Upon completion of the acquisition, CSL will become the world's largest manufacturer of plasma products.

CSL chief executive Brian McNamee said that the deal would "transform" his business, while Aventis makes the move as part of an ongoing refocusing initiative towards its core pharmaceutical operations. "Our objective is to dispose of all non-core assets by the end of 2004... this divestiture marks another successful step towards that goal," added Aventis' chief financial officer, Patrick Langlois.

The two companies have been in marathon discussions over a possible merging of the USA-based unit since February (Marketletter February 24) and the size of the deal eclipses CSL's other significant recent acquisition - the $525 million purchase of ZBL Bioplasma from the Swiss Red Cross in 2000 (Marketletter June 19, 2000).