PARIS (Reuters) - Sanofi (PA:SASY) will raise over $11 billion from the sale of 21.6 million shares in its U.S. partner Regeneron (O:REGN), the French drugmaker said on Wednesday, adding it would use the proceeds for innovation and general growth.
Earlier this week, Regeneron had said it would repurchase about $5 billion of its shares directly from Sanofi, without altering their over-a-decade-long partnership.
Sanofi is selling the Regeneron shares at $515.00 per share - a discount of around 5.5% to Regeneron's closing price of $545.21 on May 26, and raising gross proceeds of $11.1 billion.
Sanofi will continue to own approximately 400,000 shares of Regeneron's common stock.
Sanofi could end up raising $11.7 billion, if the underwriters on the deal exercise their option to buy up a further 1.2 million Regeneron shares.
The collaboration between Sanofi and Regeneron dates back to 2003 and has resulted in five approved treatments to date - including eczema drug Dupixent - with additional candidates in clinical development.
Investment banks Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Securities, Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), Barclays (LON:BARC), BNP Paribas (OTC:BNPQY), Citigroup (NYSE:C), JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) worked on Sanofi's Regeneron stake sale.