Aventis sells Rhodia stake
divestment of French speciality chemicals company Rhodia with the
announcement on Tuesday that it has reduced its stake from 25.2 per
cent to 15.3 per cent by selling 17.8 million of Rhodia shares - 40
per cent of its Rhodia shareholding - to French bank Crédit
Lyonnais.
Franco-German pharmaceuticals company Aventis continues the divestment of French speciality chemicals company Rhodia with the announcement on Tuesday that it has reduced its stake from 25.2 per cent to 15.3 per cent by selling 17.8 million of Rhodia shares - 40 per cent of its Rhodia shareholding - to French bank Crédit Lyonnais.
As a result of the transaction Aventis will hold 27.5 million Rhodia shares and Crédit Lyonnais will have acquired 9.9 per cent of Rhodia's share capital.
The move marks the next step in the progressive disposal of Aventis's interest in Rhodia, obliged by European and American competition authorities following the creation of Aventis in 1999.
Commenting on the disposal, Patrick Langlois, vice chairman and chief financial officer of Aventis, said: "This transaction is an important step in our continued focus on our core pharmaceutical activities and reaffirms our commitment to our shareholders to exit the non-core industrial activities. In addition, this transaction is a first step to comply with the requirement to reduce the Aventis shareholding in Rhodia to below 5 per cent by April 2004, pursuant to the 1999 agreement with EU and US antitrust authorities."
In 2002 Rhodia failed to see an upturn in profitability, largely attributed to a difficult economic environment, and only managed to stabilise its margins for 2002. Earlier this month the company announced a 10 per cent hike in vanillin and ethyl vanillin prices due to the escalation in raw materials costs, energy and higher transportation and insurance costs. Two years ago Rhodia's chairman Jean-Pierre Tirouflet rejected a €15 per share takeover offer from Dutch chemicals group DSM.
