Sanofi is on the lookout for acquisitions to boost key business units, such as consumer and animal health products, and expects strong growth in the "strategic continent" of Africa, its chief executive told Reuters on Wednesday.

Chris Viehbacher declined to say whether the group would be interested in Merck & Co's non-prescription consumer business or Novartis's animal health operations. "We can never comment on targets. Clearly, we have growth platforms such as animal health and consumer health care - if we can strengthen those while creating value for our shareholders we will do that," he said.

Merck is considering divesting its healthcare business, best known for Coppertone sunscreen, Dr. Scholl's foot care and Claritin allergy medicine. Sanofi is now among several companies cited by bankers as potential bidders including the likes of Reckitt Benckiser and Bayer.

Pricing pressure from cash-strapped governments and tough competition from generics has prompted many drugmakers to consider divesting certain non-core business units.

Sanofi, meanwhile, is striving to shake off the impact of patent losses on key drugs and betting on "growth platforms" - including rare diseases, over-the-counter treatments and animal health - and its big cash pile has prompted speculation by bankers it could complement these through acquisitions.

Viehbacher noted that the company's net debt, at around 6 billion euros, was well below its 10 billion target.

Sanofi's use of cash has faced market scrutiny since the prospect of a massive buyback of its shares held by L'Oreal has faded. Some analysts now expect Sanofi will proceed with a share buyback anyway, to the tune of 2 billion euros this year, to boost earnings per share and reward shareholders after a disappointing 2013. [ID:nL5N0LG1ZM] "If we don't find acquisitions and the dividend doesn't absorb the cash, we've always said we'll proceed with opportunistic share buybacks," Viehbacher said. Sanofi already bought back more than 1.6 billion euros of shares in 2013.