Aventis
Encyclopedia
Aventis was a pharmaceutical and lab assay testing company. It was formed in 1999 when Rhône-Poulenc
Rhône-Poulenc
-History of the company:The Company was founded in 1928 through the merger of Société des Usines Chimiques du Rhône from Lyon and Établissements Poulenc Frères from Paris founded by Étienne Poulenc, a 19th century Parisian apothecary and brought to prominence by his second and third sons Emile...
S.A. merged with Hoechst AG
Hoechst AG
Hoechst AG was a German chemicals then life-sciences company that became Aventis Deutschland after its merger with France's Rhône-Poulenc S.A. in 1999...
. The merged company was based in Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. With its headquarters in Strasbourg, Aventis was the product of the first transnational merger to combine large rival companies from France and Germany. It became part of Sanofi-Aventis
Sanofi-Aventis
Sanofi S.A. is a multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Paris, France, the world's fourth-largest by prescription sales. Sanofi engages in the research and development, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceutical products for sale principally in the prescription market, but the...
in 2004.http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/889905/Aventis
The name Aventis is derived from the Roman Goddess Minerva
Minerva
Minerva was the Roman goddess whom Romans from the 2nd century BC onwards equated with the Greek goddess Athena. She was the virgin goddess of poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, crafts, magic...
, the virgin goddess of warriors, poetry, medicine, wisdom, and music.
Aventis Prizes
The Aventis Prizes for Science BooksThe Aventis Prizes for Science Books
The Royal Society Prizes for Science Books is an annual award for the previous year's best general science writing and best science writing for children. The nominees and winners are decided by the Royal Society, the UK national academy of science...
, which celebrate the best in popular science writing for adults and children, have grown to be one of the world's most prestigious non-fiction literary prizes.
The Aventis Prizes are managed by the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
, the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
national academy of science, and the Aventis Foundation, a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
charitable trust established in 1996 with the name Hoechst Foundation with an endowment
Financial endowment
A financial endowment is a transfer of money or property donated to an institution. The total value of an institution's investments is often referred to as the institution's endowment and is typically organized as a public charity, private foundation, or trust....
of €50 million. In 2000 the foundation was renamed the Aventis Foundation subsequent to the 1999 merger of Hoechst and Rhône-Poulenc. Aventis became the wholly owned subsidiary of UB Group .