GenzymeGenzyme Corporation (NASDAQ: GENZ) announced that its Board of Directors unanimously recommends that Genzyme shareholders accept the sanofi-aventis revised tender offer to purchase all outstanding shares of Genzyme common stock for $74.00 and one contingent value right, per share. The Board recommends that all Genzyme shareholders tender their shares into the revised tender offer.

Genzyme has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission an amendment to its Solicitation/Recommendation Statement on Schedule 14D-9 that includes the basis for the Board’s recommendation along with other information relating to the tender offer.

Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs served as financial advisors to Genzyme. Ropes & Gray LLP served as Genzyme's legal counsel, while Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz served as legal counsel to Genzyme's independent directors.

About Genzyme
One of the world's leading biotechnology companies, Genzyme is dedicated to making a major positive impact on the lives of people with serious diseases. Since 1981, the company has grown from a small start-up to a diversified enterprise with approximately 10,000 employees in locations spanning the globe. Genzyme last month announced an agreement to be acquired by sanofi-aventis, and the transaction, which is subject to certain conditions including successful completion of the tender offer, is expected to close early in the second quarter of this year.

With many established products and services helping patients in 100 countries, Genzyme is a leader in the effort to develop and apply the most advanced technologies in the life sciences. The company's products and services are focused on rare inherited disorders, kidney disease, orthopaedics, cancer, transplant, and immune disease. Genzyme's commitment to innovation continues today with a substantial development program focused on these fields, as well as cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative diseases, and other areas of unmet medical need.