Sanofi Asks for Record Date for Vote on Medivation's Board

French pharmaceutical company Sanofi SA on Wednesday pressed forward i ts $9.3 billion hostile takeover bid for Medivation Inc., asking the oncology drugmaker to set a cutoff date to determine which shareholders would vote on Sanofi's proposal to replace Medivation's board.

Medivation has 10 calendar days to set a so-called record date. If the company fails to do so, the record date would be the first date on which a signed written consent is delivered to the company.

A representative for Medivation declined to comment Wednesday afternoon.

The San Francisco-based biotech company had rejected Sanofi's offer, calling the offer "substantially inadequate and opportunistically-timed."

Medivation ended 2015 at a $245 million profit and reported $943 million in collaboration revenue from sales of its flagship oncology drug Xtandi, according to regulatory filings.

Xtandi, which Medivation sells in partnership with Japan's Astellas Pharma Inc., had sales of $1.91 billion in 2015, up 80% from the year earlier, the filings show.

Sanofi's proposed slate includes former Arch Chemicals Inc. Chief Executive Michael E. Campbell and Barbara Deptula, former Shire PLC executive and current AMAG Pharmaceuticals Inc. director.

In making its $52.50-a-share appeal directly to shareholders, Sanofi is following a path similar to the one that led to its 2011 purchase of Genzyme Corp.

Sanofi's stock closed Wednesday at $41.14, down 17% over the past 12 months, while Medivation's closed at $61.14, down 5% over the past 12 moths.

Noemie Bisserbe contributed to this article.

Write to Maria Armental at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 01, 2016 18:25 ET (22:25 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.