Total still targets Sanofi stake sale but no hurry
PARIS, May 16 (Reuters) - Total (TOTF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) remains determined to sell its 13-percent stake in French pharmaceuticals group Sanofi-Aventis (SASY.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) but is in no hurry to do so for the moment given Sanofi's weak share price, the French oil company said on Friday.
"The general feeling we have is that the market undervalues Sanofi so there is no reason to act in a hurry by selling," Chairman Thierry Desmarest told a shareholders meeting.
"But our objective is not to keep the stake indefinitely. We will try to find the best conditions to sell," he added.
In February, Total had said it had sold 0.4 percent of Sanofi's capital, trimming its stake to around 13 percent.
Total has announced it would sell its Sanofi stake by the end of 2012, but de Margerie has said it would do so gradually and without warning so as not to disrupt the market. (Reporting by Marie Maitre; Editing by Quentin Bryar)
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