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UPDATE 1-EU says Zentiva/Sanofi deal notification incomplete

Fri Oct 3, 2008 7:22am EDT

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(adds Sanofi reaction)

BRUSSELS/PARIS, Oct 3 (Reuters) - The notification to EU competition regulators of plans by French pharmaceuticals producer Sanofi-Aventis (SASY.PA) to buy Czech generic drugmaker Zentiva ZNTVsp.PR is incomplete, the European Commission said.

The companies will have to renotify the EU executive and then a new deadline for the Commission's competition review will be set, a Commission spokesman said on Friday.

The companies said on Sept. 22 that Zentiva had accepted a higher takeover offer from Sanofi-Aventis that valued Zentiva at around 1.8 billion euros ($2.51 billion).

Sanofi said in a reaction that it and Zentiva would work together to get the information and added the timetable of the bid remained unchanged.

"At the moment, the deal will end on Nov. 28. If it needs to be postponed that would not put the operation in danger," said a spokesman for the world's fourth-largest drugs group. (Reporting by Dale Hudson and Noelle Mennella; Editing by David Cowell)



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