Shire and Takeda come to terms with a $64B deal, the biggest pharma M&A in years

Late Tuesday, after a fifth buyout offer from Takeda, Shire said the Japanese drugmaker had finally landed on a proposal worth recommending to shareholders. It's a cash-and-stock bid now worth $64 billion or so, about $4 billion more than its first offer. The deal still has to be approved by both boards and is subject to due diligence. The U.K.'s takeover board, which has strict rules for the timing and disclosure of bids, extended a deadline to give Takeda and Shire until May 8 to wrap it up. In per-share terms, Takeda would fork over 0.839 new Takeda shares and $30.33 in cash for each Shire share. Based on Takeda's share price at Monday's close, that's £49 per share, Shire said in a statement and £5 per share more than its first bid. That share price is a moving target, though; Takeda's stock plummeted by 7% on the news Wednesday morning. Structured this way, the deal “seems to be much more of a merger,” Bernstein analyst Ronny Gal pointed out in a note to clients. Shire shareholders will receive 50% of the value of the combined company, and the companies will do reciprocal due diligence before any deal closes.