Takeda to buy Shire for 46 bil. pounds

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. said Tuesday it has reached an agreement to buy Irish drugmaker Shire Plc. for about 46 billion pounds ($62 billion) in the biggest-ever Japanese acquisition of a foreign firm.Osaka-based Takeda will become the world's ninth-biggest drugmaker with combined sales of 2.81 trillion yen, marking the first time a Japanese pharmaceutical company has joined the top 10 group.Through the acquisition of London-listed Shire, which is based in Dublin and known for its strength in developing medicines for rare diseases including hemophilia, Takeda, Japan's largest drugmaker by …READ FULL ARTICLE