Sanofi on an acquisition roll, making bid for Ablynx

Announcing a second takeover bid in a matter of a week, French pharma major Sanofi (Euronext: SAN) today revealed that it has entered into a definite agreement to acquire Belgium biotech firm Ablynx (Euronext Brussels: ABLX), sending the latter’s shares up 19.6% to 44.40 euros.

Sanofi has offered to acquire all of the outstanding ordinary shares of Ablynx, including shares represented by American Depositary Shares (ADSs), warrants and convertible bonds of Ablynx at a price per share of 45 euros in cash, which represents an aggregate equity value of around 3.9 billion euros ($4.85 billion).

The proposed deal trumps one earlier this month from Danish diabetes care giant Novo Nordisk (NOV: N) of around $3.1 billion, which Ablynx rejected as undervaluing the company.