19th Apr 2018 17:22
LONDON (Alliance News) - Irish pharmaceutical firm Shire PLC on Thursday said it has received three takeover proposals from Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd since the end of March, all of which it has rejected.
Later Thursday, Allergan PLC also confirmed that it is in the "early stages" of considering an offer to buy Shire. It stressed that no offer has been made and that there can be no certainty an offer will be made.
Allergan said it is in the process of "evaluating a full range of potential strategic actions" that will creat value for shareholders.
This comes after Takeda Co confirmed earlier on Thursday it had made a revised takeover proposal to Shire a week ago, which Shire rejected.
The proposal was GBP46.50 per share. Of this, GBP17.75 was in cash and the rest in Takeda shares.
Shire's current market capitalisation is GBP35.54 billion. Takeda's proposal would value the FTSE 100 firm at around GBP42.41 billion.
Shire said it received a GBP44.00 per share proposal on March 29, with Shire shareholders owning around half of the enlarged Takeda, but it believed this "significantly" undervalued the company.
The second was worth GBP45.50 a share, which it again rejected, as it did a third proposal of GBP46.50 per share, which was announced Thursday by Takeda.
All three proposals consisted of a mix of cash and Takeda shares.
Shire said it asked its advisors to speak with Takeda's advisors to discuss a whether fourth proposal will be forthcoming, and it added it would consider all options which would maximise value for shareholders and this includes more proposals from Takeda.
"At the board's request, Shire's advisers entered into a dialogue with Takeda's advisers to discuss whether a further, more attractive, proposal may be forthcoming and to understand the basis on which such a proposal would be made," Shire said in its statement. "The board and management of Shire remain committed to enhancing shareholder value and are focused on fully evaluating internal and external opportunities to maximise value for shareholders, including any further proposals from Takeda."
Shire shares closed up 5.9% at 3,975.00 pence each.
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