Shares in Belgium’s Solvay hit a five-week high on Wednesday after it emerged that the pharmaceuticals and chemicals conglomerate had moved a step closer to offloading its drugs unit.
Nycomed, the privately owned Swiss company, is in the second round of the auction process, while US drug company Abbott Laboratories was said to be mulling an offer for Solvay’s TriCor cholesterol treatment, distributed in the US.
