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Leading the News Novartis Discusses White Knight Bid In Aventis Battle By Anita Raghavan and Gautam Naik 999 words 26 February 2004 The Wall Street Journal J A3 English (Copyright (c) 2004, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.) LONDON -- Novartis AG has held preliminary talks with Aventis SA about emerging as a white knight for France's No. 1 drug maker, which is in the throes of fending off a hostile takeover offer from France's secondbiggest drug company, Sanofi-Synthelabo SA, say people familiar with the situation. Novartis hasn't decided whether to act, and any potential offer remains a long way off. For its part, Aventis hasn't given a sign that it is willing to entertain the idea of Novartis as a white knight, say these people. It is possible, they concede, that Aventis is keeping its lines open to the Swiss drug maker in an effort to spur Sanofi to sweeten its offer, say people familiar with the situation. The talks between Novartis and Aventis, which have occurred in recent weeks, underscore the Swiss drug maker's interest in Aventis, which makes the allergy drug Allegra and the anticlotting drug Lovenox. It has been clear that Novartis would jump into the battle -- which also involves Sanofi's powerful French shareholders, oil company Total SA and cosmetics concern L'Oreal SA -- only if it is invited to do so by Aventis. Novartis's overtures come as Aventis Chief Executive Igor Landau is pulling out the stops to thwart the Sanofi bid, which is valued at 45.6 billion euros ($57.85 billion). Nearly two weeks ago, Mr. Landau traveled to Kuwait City to meet with Kuwait Petroleum Corp., Aventis's largest shareholder, with a 13.5% stake, according to people familiar with the situation. At a meeting with Kuwait Petroleum officials, Mr. Landau said that Sanofi's offer is inadequate, and that its mostly stock proposal carries a lot of risk, these people said. Sanofi is offering 0.8333 Sanofi share plus 11.50 euros in cash for each Aventis share. Sanofi's stock closed at 54.70...