Move follows fears over jobs and control when private equity firm CD&R entered talks to buy Opella for €16bn

The French government is to take a stake in the pharmaceutical company Sanofi’s consumer healthcare division to try to quell a backlash as the US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice enters talks to buy the unit for €16bn (£13.3bn).

Sanofi is spinning off Opella, which makes the paracetamol brand Doliprane, the laxative Dulcolax and other over-the-counter medicines. However, the revelation of talks with CD&R earlier this month prompted concerns over French jobs and the loss of control to a foreign company.