Takeda shareholders approve $60 billion Shire acquisition

TOKYO: Shareholders at Japanese drug giant Takeda on Wednesday approved a plan to buy Irish pharmaceuticals firm Shire in a deal worth around $60 billion, the biggest foreign takeover ever by a Japanese firm.

A group of rebel investors, including members of the founding family, tried to thwart the deal but were outvoted at an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting held in the western city of Osaka where the company has its headquarters.

The scheme was “approved as originally proposed”, said a statement from Takeda, adding it should come into effect in early January — pending approval from Shire shareholders, who are to vote on the merger plan in Dublin.

The deal, which will create one of the world’s top 10 drug companies, caps a lengthy courtship by Takeda of its larger rival as it seeks to expand overseas.

“We are delighted that our shareholders have given their strong support to our acquisition of Shire,” said Takeda CEO Christophe Weber.

Analysts have said the buyout would be a smart move by Takeda as it looks to diversify, and could pay off in the long-term, but it has also raised concerns that the Japanese firm could be overextending itself financially.

Takeda plans to finance the 46-billion-pound ($58.4 billion) buyout through issuing new shares in exchange for Shire stock, bank loans and bond issuance. Shares in Takeda closed up 1.07 per cent at 4,240 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange as investors cheered the shareholders’ approval.

“The approval prompted buybacks,” said Makoto Sengoku, market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Institute. “The company averted the worst-case scenario in which opposition to the deal wins and throws its business planning into a mess,” he said.

Full story @ timesofoman.com/business