Sanofi-Aventis will buy Chattem

French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis SA said Monday it has agreed to buy US health-care company Chattem Inc for about $1.9 billion in cash in a deal it said would create the world's fifth-largest consumer healthcare company. Paris-based Sanofi-Aventis said it will offer $93. 50 per share to acquire 100 percent of Chattem, a maker of consumer health-care products such as Gold Bond skin care creams and Icy Hot pain relief medicine. "Chattem is the ideal entry for us in this market, " Sanofi Chief Executive Chris Viehbacher told reporters during a conference call. The deal is part of a strategy by Sanofi and other top pharmaceutical companies to diversify, particularly into areas with stable product revenue as they face a wave of patent expirations in the next several years. In a statement, Sanofi-Aventis said it will launch its public tender offer for Chattem in January, and it expects to complete the acquisition in the first quarter of 2010. Chattem's management will remain in place following the takeover, Sanofi-Aventis said. Sanofi-Aventis said it would maintain both of Chattem's existing manufacturing facilities in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and will continue construction on a third. Last year Chattem had 488 employees and reported revenue of $455 million.