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.
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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.