Takeda closes in on Shire deal with sweetened $64-billion offer

The transaction could result in a multinotch downgrade on Takeda's A1 rating, Moody's Investors Service wrote in a report on Wednesday

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. reached a preliminary agreement to buy Shire Plc with a sweetened takeover offer of about 46 billion pounds ($64 billion), closing in on a bold transaction to gain a foothold in one of the pharma industry’s most coveted niches.

The UK-listed company’s board said it was willing to recommend the latest offer to shareholders on Wednesday, capping a month-long tug of war in which its Japanese suitor made five successively higher proposals, two of them in the last few days.

Chief Executive Officer Christophe Weber is steering Takeda into its largest-ever transaction to replenish the drugmaker’s pipeline