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Case Study

Aventis (A): An odyssey of mergers

By Piero Morosini and Deepak Khandpur

21 pages

December 2002

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Reference: IMD-3-1105

On December 1, 1998, Hoechst and Rhône-Poulenc announced the merger of their life sciences business to create Aventis. This new company would be the global leader in both the pharma and agro industries. The two companies had planned to take a phased approach in implementing the merger, over several years. However, resistance from Hoechst’s largest shareholder (Kuwait Petroleum Corporation) to this phased approach led the merger being considerably accelerated and completed in just one year. Aventis managed the challenges associated with integrating this “merger of equals” by focusing on manufacturing rationalization, information management and cultural integration.

Keywords

Mergers and Acquisitions, Pharmaceuticals, Integration

Settings

World/global
December 1998

Type

Published Sources

Available Languages

English

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