French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis (SASY.PA) is likely to extend its $18.5 billion tender offer for Genzyme (GENZ.O) one last time as it seeks to buy the U.S. maker of drugs for rare diseases, sources close to the situation told Reuters. The $69 a share tender offer expires at the end of the day on Friday, New York time. It was extended once in December when Genzyme investors handed in barely 1 percent of their shares. Now that the two companies are talking directly, fund managers and sources familiar with the matter see an extension as a formality, allowing the companies to get closer and likely turning Sanofi's hostile offer into one Genzyme's board can recommend to its shareholders.
Source
