Life sciences giant puts £46bn offer on table for Irish rival
Magic Circle duo Slaughter and May and Linklaters have been joined by Davis Polk & Wardwell and Ashurst in landing key mandates as Japanese giant Takeda Pharmaceutical Company launched a £46bn takeover of Shire last month.
Takeda has made multiple bids for its London Stock Exchange-listed Irish rival over recent months as it seeks to expand internationally, adding to its stomach, cancer and brain drug portfolios. Despite initial refusals, the latest recommended offer, which values the company at roughly £46bn, is a culmination of recent bids and has been accepted by the Shire board.
Linklaters is advising Takeda on the transaction, with a team led by corporate partner James Inglis, accompanied by global corporate chair Matthew Middleditch and corporate partners Aisling Zarraga, Tom Shropshire and Hiroya Yamazaki. Japanese outfit Nishimura & Asahi and offshore firm Ogier are also acting for Takeda on the deal.
Slaughters and Davis Polk, meanwhile, are acting for Shire, with the Slaughters team including corporate partners Martin Hattrell and Christian Boney, pensions and employment partner Jonathan Fenn, competition partners John Boyce and Claire Jeffs, and tax partner Dominic Robertson. The Davis Polk team is headed up by partners Gar Bason, William Chudd and Daniel Brass. Slaughters and Davis Polk are also joined by Japanese and offshore heavyweights Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu and Mourant Ozannes.
Ashurst, meanwhile, is acting for Evercore, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Nomura Holdings as the financial advisers to Takeda, with a team led by corporate partners Robert Ogilvy Watson and Tom Mercer as well as banking partner Tim Rennie. Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson is also advising Evercore.
Regarding the recent uptake in pharmaceutical mandates for firms, Ashurst banking partner Tim Rennie told Legal Business: ‘Obviously it comes down to the shelf life of the drug treatments that they have, with the cost of bringing a new product to the market, and you need the scale. It took a while to get a price on the bid that was agreed, but that’s what you’d expect in a competitive process.’
The deal comes against the backdrop of a sector that continues to be a lucrative space for firms, particularly Magic Circle players, with the City elite also advising on the $13bn transaction that saw GlaxoSmithKline acquire the remaining 36.5% stake in its consumer healthcare joint venture with pharma giant Novartis.