Will the spin-off of Sanofi pharmaceutical chemistry manufacturing happen now?

23/04/2020
Insights
Kevin Bottomley

Earlier in 2020 in a pre-COVID-19 world, Sanofi announced its intention to spin off a significant part of their chemistry manufacturing capability with Sanofi sites in Brindisi, Italy; Frankfurt, Germany; Haverhill, England; St. Aubin les Elbeuf, France; Upjest, Hungary; and Vertolaye, France, forming a new company separated from Sanofi (but with Sanofi aspiring to own 30% of the new business as well as being the major customer). It would become instantly the second largest pharmaceutical API manufacturer by revenue employing 3,100, with a plan to IPO the business in 2022. Based in Europe it will benefit from the repatriation of manufacturing from China and India (read our blog on life sciences supply chain resilience here).

A lot has changed since this announcement and it begs two immediate questions:

In the current financial crisis initiated by the COVID-19 pandemic will markets be open for an IPO as early as 2022?
More pressingly, will the renewed emphasis on supply chain security, cause Sanofi to think again about the potential impact on supply chain as well as the wider French national security and choose to retain these activities within Sanofi?