THE JAPAN NEWS


 

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. has agreed with Irish major drugmaker Shire PLC to start procedures for making the Irish company a wholly owned subsidiary, the Japanese firm announced Tuesday.

The total buyout price has reached about £46 billion (about ¥6.8 trillion) — the largest-ever overseas acquisition by a Japanese company.

Takeda’s board members have approved the details of the acquisition plan that the company will formally propose to Shire, according to sources.
Executives of the two companies have reached a broad agreement on the value of the acquisition through past negotiations.

According to the sources, Takeda held a board meeting on Monday. It plans to buy all of Shire’s shares and make it a wholly owned subsidiary.
Takeda’s sales after the acquisition are expected to top ¥3 trillion, making it the first Japanese firm to be ranked within the world’s top 10 drugmakers.

On March 28, Takeda announced it was considering a bid to buy Shire. The two companies have been holding negotiations since then.

Takeda offered to acquire all of Shire’s shares for £46 billion. In response, the Irish firm announced on April 25 that it had told Takeda that Shire’s board was willing to recommend the offer to its shareholders.

Shire’s forte is rare diseases in fields such as blood and immunity, as well as nerve diseases. Its net profit is about three times more than Takeda’s. The Irish company sells about 40 kinds of drugs in more than 100 countries, and its sales are also high in the United States — the world’s largest pharmaceutical market.

The acquisition is expected to see Takeda gain potentially promising new drugs and also to expand its sales channels.

Based on regulations in Britain’s stock exchange, where Shire is currently listed, the two drugmakers have extended the deadline for announcing whether they will formally propose the acquisition from 5 p.m. on April 25 to 5 p.m. on Tuesday London time.

SoftBank Group Corp.’s ¥3.3 trillion purchase in 2016 of major British chip designer ARM Holdings PLC is the largest of past overseas acquisitions by Japanese companies.