Big pharma: Takeda sets date for shareholder vote on $62bn Shire merger
Takeda Pharmaceutical will ask shareholders to vote on buying biotechnology firm Shire for $62bn (£48bn) on 5 December, it revealed today.
Takeda hopes to complete the purchase of the Dublin-based company on 8 January after holding the extraordinary general meeting (EGM) with shareholders and gaining approval from the European Commission.
“The acquisition of Shire will accelerate our strategic transformation to create a stronger, more global and more competitive company with the financial strength to continue investing in delivering highly innovative medicines and transformative care to patients around the world,” said Christophe Weber, chief executive of Takeda.
“With the date of our EGM of shareholders now set, we are looking forward to continuing our dialogue with shareholders regarding the compelling strategic and financial benefits of this transaction.”
Approval requires support from two-thirds of shareholders.
However, some investors are worried about the company’s debt burden if the deal completes. Takeda has had to take a bridge loan of $31bn to help finance the acquisition.
The Japanese giant hopes the merger will bolster its international standing as well as strengthen its offerings in gastroenterology and neuroscience, as well as giving it leading positions in rare diseases and plasma-derived therapies.
The tie-up should also deliver annual cost synergies in the region of $1.4bn by the end of the third fiscal year after it completes, Takeda said.
Shares in Shire climbed two per cent higher this morning on reports that the European Commission is set to give Takeda condition antitrust approval for the acquisition.
Takeda has offered to divest Shire’s inflammatory bowel disease treatment to assuage overlap concerns, with the Commission set to rule on the acquisition by 20 November.