(Bloomberg) --
Sanofi, the French pharmaceutical giant, plans to sell shares in its drug-ingredients division in the next few months, a senior executive said.
The company announced the potential initial public offering in February as Chief Executive Officer Paul Hudson sought to revamp the drugmaker's strategy, focusing on fields such as cancer.
“We'll try to launch it on the market,” Sanofi France Chairman Olivier Bogillot said on France Inter radio on Saturday. “We'll do an IPO in the coming months.”
Sanofi has said the move will help ensure supplies of essential components used to make medicines and reduce the industry's heavy reliance on Asia, which was exposed at the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak.
“The idea is to create a champion of active ingredients at the European level,” Bogillot said.
The unit is combining Sanofi's commercial and development activities with six of its European production sites, including facilities in Frankfurt and Brindisi, Italy.
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