TOKYO - Drug giant Takeda on Tuesday said it would buy Irish pharmaceuticals firm Shire in a deal worth $62.5 billion, the biggest foreign takeover ever by a Japanese firm. And on Tuesday, Takeda announced the boards of the two companies "have reached agreement on the terms of a recommended offer pursuant to which" the Japanese firm will buy Shire. In a separate statement, it said it would fund the deal with a bridge loan facility of nearly $31 billion. In particular, Shire will give Takeda access to research and development in fields the Japanese firm has long sought, including digestive systems, mental illness and rare diseases. The deal is by far the largest acquisition of a foreign firm by a Japanese company, dwarfing SoftBank Group's 2016 acquisition of Britain's ARM Holdings in a $24.3 billion deal.

Source: Bangkok Post May 08, 2018 08:48 UTC