Pharmaceutical Business review

Shire rejects $63bn takeover proposal from Takeda

The rare disease drug maker revealed that the Japanese pharma company made three offers recently.

Takeda’s latest offer came on 13 April, which was £46.50 per each share of Shire, made up of £17.75 per share in cash and £28.75 per share of new Takeda shares.

On 29 March, the Japanese firm first proposed to pay £44 per each share of Shire, made up of £16 per share in cash and £28 per share in new Takeda shares.

Later on, it made a second proposal on 11 April, offering £45.50 per each share of Shire, made up of £16.75 per share in cash along with £28.75 per share in new Takeda shares.

As per the third proposal, Takeda offered Shire to take a stake of nearly 51% in the enlarged company post acquisition.

Shire, in a statement, said: “The Board and management of Shire remain committed to enhancing shareholder value and are focused on fully evaluating internal and external opportunities to maximise value for shareholders, including any further proposals from Takeda.”

Takeda said that the acquisition of Shire would speed up its transformation into a value-based, research and development driven biopharmaceutical major with a balance geographic presence, improved financial strength to go along with a strong modality-diverse pipeline.

The Japanese firm said in a statement: “Irrespective of the outcome of discussions between the two parties, Takeda remains well-positioned to continue its transformation, delivering portfolio growth while strengthening its pipeline and boosting profitability.”

In another development, Allergan, which was reported to propose a bid to acquire Shire, had dropped its plans.

Also based in Ireland, Allergan said that it will continue its current process of assessing a full range of potential strategic actions that will provide value for shareholders, which includes divestitures, combinations and acquisitions.

Earlier, this week, Shire had agreed to sell its oncology business to French pharmaceutical firm Servier for $2.4bn.


Image: Shire location in Lexington, Massachusetts. Photo: courtesy of John Phelan/Wikipedia.org.