Sanofi-Aventis rises its dividend

The French drug maker reports a big rise in its dividend.

Photo: Sanofi-Aventis rises its dividend

Sanofi-Aventis, headquartered in Paris, France, is a multinational pharmaceutical company. The company is one of the five largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Sanofi-Aventis engages in the research, development, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceutical products for sale principally in the prescription market, but they also develop over-the-counter medication. Sanofi-Aventis cover 7 major therapeutic areas: cardiovascular, thrombosis, oncology, diabetes, central nervous system, internal medicine and vaccines (with its subsidiary Sanofi Pasteur).

Stockholders: 

- Breakdown of share ownership: approximitly 13% by Total, 10.13% by L'Oréal, 5.47% treasury shares, 1.29% employees, the remaining 70.46% are publicly traded. 

- Voting rights distribution: 21.37% to Total, 17.12% to L'Oréal, 1.54% to employees, and 59.97% to the public.

L'Oreal curtailed its stake in Sanofi-Aventis.  Last year the stockholder sold 1.8 percent of Sanofi-Aventis, reducing its stake to 8.7 percent.

Total, the other main shareholder, reported that it’s going to sell the whole of its 13.1 percent stake by the end of 2012.

Sanofi-Aventis explains the growth of its dividents as a planned operation.

 The company refuses to admit that the changes are connected with the actions of its main shareholders. Earlier Sanofi-Aventis said that it had planned to raise the dividend when the debt was at a reasonable level.