Sanofi stays in Berlin and Bad Soden
The two existing administration locations at Bad Soden near Frankfurt (Aventis) and Berlin (Sanofi) will remain as part of the world's new third-largest pharmaceuticals group.
The two existing administration locations at Bad Soden near Frankfurt (Aventis) and Berlin (Sanofi) will remain as part of the world's new third-largest pharmaceuticals group.
This assurance was given to thousands of Aventis staff at a meeting in Frankfurt by Jean-Francois Dehecq, chairman of the company that is now coming into being as a result of the takeover of Aventis by the French pharmaceuticals group Sanofi-Synthelabo.
He said that maintaining these locations will be accompanied by restructuring measures, the details of which must still be discussed with the Works Councils.
It is already certain that marketing and sales will in future be controlled from the existing Sanofi location in Berlin, but that at the same time employees will have to move from Berlin to Bad Soden. Dehecq did not want to say how many staff will be affected by these measures. The question also remained open as to where the company's other central functions will be based in future.
As far as the production and research locations in the Frankfurt suburb of Hoechst are concerned, Dehecq again promised that these will all remain. Three of the Group's seven research directors will in future be based in Frankfurt.
Dehecq declined to make any statements about possible job losses and how the announced savings from the merger (synergy effects) are to be achieved in Germany.
The Sanofi-Aventis boss also feels that it would be a mistake to build the company's future solely on high-earning, innovative money-spinners, the so-called blockbuster products with annual sales of over €1bn.
Dehecq also announced that he wants to expand his business with generics. In this area, Sanofi most recently achieved sales of around €100m in Germany.