OSAKA, Japan— Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd. (TSE: 4502) and Shire plc  (LON: SHP) have reached a deal under which Takeda will acquire the larger Dublin-based pharmaceutical company for a reported $62 billion, according to an announcement Tuesday. In a statement, the companies said the proposed acquisition of Shire will create “a global, values-based, R&D-driven biopharmaceutical leader headquartered in Japan,” and that the transaction will better position Takeda to “deliver highly-innovative medicines and transformative care globally.” The two companies had been in deal negotiations for several weeks, as VMAIL reported. 

Takeda increased its offer at least four times, according to news reports. Shire, which markets the dry eye treatment Xiidra, has its U.S. operations base in Lexington, Mass.
The acquisition terms announced Tuesday value Shire at 65 percent more than the company was valued at just a few weeks ago, according to Bloomberg.

Shire chairman Susan Kilsby said that Shire has become a global leader in treating rare diseases and delivering innovative products that transform patients’ lives. “With this combination, Shire helps create an even stronger biopharmaceutical company, with a robust R&D pipeline and expanded global footprint,” she added. “We firmly believe that this combination recognizes the strong growth potential of our leading products and innovative pipeline and is in the best interests of our shareholders, our patients and the communities we serve.”

Under the terms of the acquisition, each Shire shareholder will be entitled to receive $30.33 in cash for each Shire share and either 0.839 new Takeda shares or 1.678 Takeda ADSs. The transaction has been approved by both companies’ boards of directors, and is expected to close in the first half of 2019, according to the announcement.
Upon the closing of the transaction, Takeda shareholders will own approximately 50 percent of the combined group, according to the announcement.

Takeda and Shire have complementary drug pipelines, with Shire having expertise in rare diseases, among other treatment areas. Takeda has an “early development and research-oriented R&D program” that will result in “a highly complementary, robust, modality-diverse pipeline and a strengthened R&D engine focused on breakthrough innovation.”

The announcement also noted that the planned integration will be “supported by the companies’ highly complementary organizational structures in geographic areas, including hubs in the Boston area, Switzerland and Singapore, as well as similar therapeutic area focus and complementary approaches to R&D.”