Investors ask judge to force Genzyme to the bargaining table

Some Genzyme investors aren't willing to wait and see if the Big Biotech's board can be gradually lured to the bargaining table by Sanofi's slow motion M&A tactics.

Some Genzyme investors aren't willing to wait and see if the Big Biotech's board can be gradually lured to the bargaining table by Sanofi's slow motion M&A tactics. Frustrated by top management's refusal to sit down and see if they can work out a price, some shareholders are turning to the courts to see if they can prod Genzyme into opening up direct talks.

Two shareholders have already sued in federal court, looking for a judge to force reluctant Genzyme officials to formally consider Sanofi's $18.5 billion bid. Genzyme, asserts Bernard Malina, is denying shareholders like him a chance to "receive maximum value for their shares," according to a report from Bloomberg.

Genzyme's leaders, of course, have repeatedly made it clear that they believe Sanofi was doing some bottom fishing when it offered to buy the company at $69 a share. That figure, said CEO Henri Termeer, represents a premium for shares battered by the company's manufacturing woes. And Termeer thinks