Yahoo Finance Takeda finally lands £46bn takeover of Shire
Japanese drugmaker Takeda has finally won its battle to acquire FTSE 100 firm Shire after five attempts, as the board unanimously waved through the £46bn takeover.
After Shire rejected four previous offers, Takeda last month increased its offer to £49.01 per Shire share, valuing the company’s equity at £46bn and representing a 64.4pc premium to Shire’s closing price of £29.81 on March 23 - the last business day before rumours of a Takeda approach emerged.
Shire’s shareholders will own half of the combined group once the acquisition completes in the first half of 2019. New shares in the business will be listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and local Japanese bourses, while its American depositary shares will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
The companies have also agreed that up to three Shire directors will join the board once the acquisition is completed.
The combined business could become the ninth biggest global pharmaceutical company by sales, according to GlobalData.
City analysts had previously cast doubt on the deal, pointing to the large amount of debt Takeda would need to take on to fund the cash element of the purchase, which would bring the combined companies’ borrowings to more than £40bn.
The Japanese company raised the amount of cash in its offer to $30.33 to secure a recommendation. Shire investors will also receive 0.839 new Takeda shares for each share they own.
The takeover is set to come into effect in the first half of 2019.
Christophe Weber, chief executive of Takeda, said: "Shire's highly complementary product portfolio and pipeline, as well as experienced employees, will accelerate our transformation for a stronger Takeda."
He added that the combined company’s focus would be on gastroenterology, neuroscience, oncology, rare diseases and plasma-derived therapies.
Shire chief executive Flemming Ornskov said: "I would like to thank the entire Shire team for all that we have accomplished over the last five years to transform Shire into the leading rare disease biotech company and a tenacious champion for patients in need."
