Sanofi Finance Chief to Leave After Almost a Decade at Drugmaker

(Bloomberg) -- Sanofi Chief Financial Officer Jerome Contamine is planning to step down from the French drugmaker later this year after almost a decade in the job.

Contamine has informed the company of his intent to retire, and will help with finding a replacement and assist with the transition once a successor has been named, a spokesman for the Paris-based drugmaker said by telephone.

The transition comes as Sanofi works to shift toward businesses with more potential for growth. The company has announced about $16 billion of takeovers this year, agreeing to buy Bioverativ Inc. to expand in hemophilia treatments and Ablynx NV to gain an experimental medicine for another rare bleeding disorder. It also plans to sell its European generics unit to buyout firm Advent International Corp. for 1.9 billion euros ($2.4 billion).

Contamine’s departure “represents a natural transition,” said Emmanuel Papadakis, an analyst at Barclays Plc.

Sanofi shares fell 0.1 percent to 66.34 euros at 9:36 a.m. in Paris trading. The stock has dropped almost 8 percent so far this year.

The 60-year-old executive joined Sanofi in 2009 from Veolia Environnement SA, which designs and provides water, waste and energy management services, with no experience in the drug industry. He is a graduate of both the Ecole Polytechnique and the Ecole Nationale d’Administration, two of France’s top schools, and started his corporate career at Elf Aquitaine SA, the French oil company from which Sanofi was created.

In an email, Contamine declined to comment.

--With assistance from Albertina Torsoli

To contact the reporters on this story: Manuel Baigorri in London at mbaigorri@bloomberg.net, James Paton in London at jpaton4@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Dinesh Nair at dnair5@bloomberg.net, Marthe Fourcade, John J. Edwards III

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