Shire Prepared to Recommend AbbVie’s £31 Billion Offer

Shire have confirmed that they are willing to recommend the takeover bid offer by AbbVie, after the company increased their offer to £53.20 a share.

The updated offer submitted on Sunday follows four previous unsuccessful bids by AbbVie to acquire Shire.

Shire confirmed that the new bid would comprise of £24.44 in cash and 0.8960 shares of the new AbbVie for each Shire share.  This would mean that under the new bid, which is valued at around £31 billion, Shire shareholders would own roughly 25% of the new combined company.

Mick Cooper, analyst at Edison Investment Research, commented that “it is pleasing to see the two boards working well together and the proposed offer seems a fair price that represents good value for both companies’ shareholders.”

Richard Gonzalez, AbbVie’s chief executive, added that he believes marrying the firms “would create a global market leader with unique characteristics and a compelling investment thesis.”

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