Sanofi-Aventis

In 2000 the foundation was renamed the Aventis Foundation subsequent to the 1999 merger of Hoechst and Rhône-Poulenc. In the year ended 31 December 2004 turnover rose 95% to U.S $1,908.7 million and profits before tax rose 226% to U.S $1,162.7 million. The Aventis Prizes are managed by the Royal Society, the UK national academy of science, and the Aventis Foundation, a German charitable trust established in 1996 as the Hoechst Foundation with an endowment of €50 million. In recent years Antofagasta has benefitted from a dramatic rise in the price of copper. The Aventis Prizes for Science Books, which celebrate the very best in popular science writing for adults and children, have grown to be one of the world's most prestigious non-fiction literary prizes. It is also has a 50% stake in a venture which has the rights to prospect for minerals in a 60,000 square kilometre region of Peru. Research and development investment was €4 bn. Its principal assets are three copper mines in Chile called Los Pelambres, El Tesoro and Michilla, and it still owns the railway, which is used to transport the copper ore.

It has operations in more than 100 countries throughout the 5 continents and has 99,700 employees worlwide. In 1996 the company's banking and industrial interests were transferred to another Luksic family company leaving Antofagasta as specialist mining concern. In 2003, Sanofi-Aventis's consolidated sales was €25 bn. The Luksic family acquired a majority stake in 1980 and diversified the business, including a move into the mining sector made a few years after their takeover. Dehecq has been the General Manager of Sanofi since its creation in 1973. Like many railways in South America it was funded mainly by British investors, and the company was incorporated in London in 1888. The merged company was based in Strasbourg, France. The Group began as a railway company, the Antofagasta (Chili) and Bolivia Railway Company FCAB, which was founded to construct a railway from the port of Antofagasta to the Bolivian capital La Paz.

merged with Hoechst Marion Roussel, in turn formed merging Hoechst AG with Roussel and Marion Merrell Dow. It is traded on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Aventis was formed in 1999 when Rhône-Poulenc S.A. It is based in Chile and majority owned by the billionaire Luksic family of Chile, but it has a corporate office in London, England. The merged company was based in Paris, France. Antofagasta plc is a mining company which specialises in copper. Sanofi-Synthélabo was formed in 1999 when Sanofi merged with Synthélabo.

French government, desiring a local merger solution, put heavy pressure on Sanofi-Synthélabo to raise its bid for Aventis after it became known that Novartis, a Swiss pharmaceutical company, was in the running. Government intervention also played an active role. The three-month takeover battle concluded when Sanofi-Synthélabo launched a friendly bid of €54.5 bn in place of the previously rejected hostile bid. Initially, Aventis rejected the bid because it offered inferior value based on the company's share value.

In early 2004, Sanofi-Synthélabo made a hostile takeover bid worth €47.8 bn against Aventis. Sanofi-Aventis was formed in 2004 when Sanofi-Synthélabo merged with Aventis. . Sanofi-Aventis covers 7 therapeutic areas: cardiovascular, thrombosis, oncology, diabetes, central nervous system, internal medicine and vaccines.

Sanofi-Aventis engages in the research, development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceutical products for sale principlally in the presciption market. Sanofi-Aventis (Euronext:FR0000120578) (NYSE:SNY), headquartered in Paris, France, is the world's number 3 company in the pharmaceutical industry (behind Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline, but above Merck and AstraZeneca). Yahoo! - Sanofi-Aventis Company Profile. Sales by geographic area breakdown: 58% from Europe, 24% from US, 18% from rest of the world.

Sales by activity breakdown: 39% from Cardiovascular/Thrombosis, 29% from Central Nervous System, 18% from Internal Medicine, 11% from Oncology, 3% from other pharmaceutical products. Voting right distribution: 21.37% to Total, 17.12% to L'Oréal, 1.54% to employees, and 59.97% to the public. Breakdown of share ownership: 12.65% by Total SA, 10.13% by L'Oréal, 5.47% treasury shares, 1.29% employees, the remaining 70.46% are publicly traded. Gérard Le Fur, Senior EVP.

Jean-François Dehecq, Chairman and CEO.