Sources say Japanese drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceutical will likely win EU antitrust approval for its $62B bid for London’s Shire.
Once official (it’s scheduled for ruling by Nov. 20), the deal will be the biggest ever overseas acquisition by a Japanese company.
Though regulators in the US, Japan, China, and Brazil have already greenlit the deal, the EU enforcer remained leary of Takeda and Shire’s overlap — most notably, the two companies’ gastrointestinal medications.
Takeda’s drug Entyvio brought in $1.82B for the Osaka-based drugmaker last year, and the EU thinks acquiring Shire’s compound would make the company far too powerful — so, last month, Takeda offered to divest Shire PLC’s compound along with a few other unnamed associated rights.
This is a huge deal for Takeda. If the acquisition is approved, the pharma company will make the list of the top 10 global drugmakers.
Takeda still needs two-thirds support from shareholders, but some of Takeda’s shareholders fear the resulting debt from the deal (the company secured a $30.9B bridge loan to help finance) will be too big a burden.