Three months after Shire (SHP) watched AbbVie (ABBV) walk away from an agreed takeover deal, it has managed to re-establish itself as a buyer rather than the target. Shire will pay £3.2bn for US biotech business NPS Pharmaceuticals (US:NPSP). That equates to $46 a share - a 51 per cent premium to the NPS share price on 16 December 2014.
Shire’s interest in NPS was first rumoured May last year and coincided with an arrangement for a $5bn credit facility with CitiGroup. But at the time NPS denied any knowledge of Shire’s intentions. AbbVie’s approach for Shire then came in July and rendered any deal with NPS moot. No doubt Shire is also making use of the $1.6bn break-fee paid to them by AbbVie after the deal collapsed.
NPS represents the largest acquisition ever made by Shire, outstripping the $4.2bn takeover of ViroPharma which completed this time last year. NPS, which is currently loss-making, develops treatments for rare diseases. It has one drug approved in the US, Germany and Sweden to treat Short Bowel Syndrome (SBS), a gastrointestinal disorder. It’s also hoping the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will approve its hormone replacement therapy for hypoparathyroidism, which is a rare endocrine disorder.
