Biggest corporate action in Japanese history completes as Takeda acquires Shire for £46bn

Japan-based pharma giant Takeda has acquired Irish biotech company Shire for £46bn.

The transaction and settlement to shareholders, completed on January 22 by financial services firm Equiniti and announced this morning, marks the single largest corporate action in Japanese history.

Takeda is the island nation’s biggest pharmaceutical business.

Shire was established in the UK before moving its HQ to Dublin. It employs around 24,000 people across 65 countries.

Equiniti’s senior operations director Gavin Lane and senior manager of corporate advice Jon McLean visited Tokyo last September, where they supported and advised both firms on the technical elements of what Equiniti is calling a deal of “unprecedented complexity”.

Mr Lane said: “We are delighted to have assisted Takeda with their takeover of Shire.

“Our industry leading corporate action team has managed and delivered a pedigree service throughout, in line with our reputation as the most experienced administrator for executing highly complex, global transactions.”

He added: “We are very pleased to serve Takeda as a new Equiniti client and very much look forward to working with them.”

It follows a vote in December that saw shareholders of both businesses back the multi-billion pound takeover.