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Shire makes unsolicited $30B bid for Baxalta

August 4, 2015 11:36 PM UTC

Shire plc (LSE:SHP; NASDAQ:SHPG) fell $14.48 to $253.60 on NASDAQ after disclosing that it made an unsolicited offer to acquire Baxalta Inc. (NYSE:BXLT) in an all-stock transaction valued at about $30 billion. Shire CEO Flemming Ornskov said on a conference call that the deal would create a leading rare disease company and allow Shire to increase its 2020 sales target to $20 billion post-merger from $10 billion as a standalone entity, with 65% of sales coming from rare disease products (see BioCentury, June 30, 2014).

Shire said it proposed the deal on July 10, but Baxalta management declined to engage in discussions. Baxalta confirmed it had received the offer, but rejected it because it "significantly undervalues Baxalta and its attractive prospects for growth and value creation" and would be "severely disruptive at this very early stage of Baxalta's existence as a public company." ...