PARIS, June 30 (AFP): French pharmaceutical group Sanofi-Aventis said Tuesday it was restructuring its research and development facilities in France, closing four sites and transferring their activities to bigger centres.

The group said it would launch a scheme to encourage some employees to leave the group but that there would be no forced redundancies.

The president of the group in France, Christian Lajoux, told the news agency that among researchers 850 people would be eligible to leave the company and 450 among administrative staff.