Dive Brief:
- Shire announced on Tuesday that it has made an all-stock, $30 billion offer to acquire Baxalta at $45.23 per share, or a 36% premium over the firm's cloasing price on Monday.
- In a press release, Shire claimed that a combined company would be "the global leader in rare diseases" that would generate $20 billion in sales within the next five years.
- Baxalta has yet to respond to Shire's offer. The company was created earlier this summer after pharma giant Baxter spun off its biopharma unit into the new entity.
Dive Insight:
Dublin-based rare disease specialist Shire has its sights set on a lofty title: the dominant orphan drug biotech in the world.
"We believe the proposed combination of Shire and Baxalta would be strategically and financially attractive for both of our companies, accelerating our respective growth ambitions and creating the leading global biotech company in rare diseases," said Shire CEO Flemming Ornskov in a statement.
"Together, the companies would be projected to deliver $20 billion in product sales by 2020, with the financial and operational firepower to fuel further innovation and growth in rare diseases. It is our strong preference to immediately enter into a negotiated transaction to explore the full potential of the proposed combination and finalize the terms of an agreement."
The proposed deal makes perfect sense for Shire and chief Ornskov, who has repeatedly telegraphed his plans to grow his firm into an orphan and specialty drug behemoth via an aggressive acquisition strategy. Case-in-point: the company announced on Monday that it is snapping up New York's Foresight Biotherapeutics in a $300 million deal that will give Shire access to a promising pink eye treatment.
What's less clear at the moment is whether or not Baxalta will bite. When the company officially spun off from Baxter in July, executives said that the firm "plans to further augment its pipeline through external partnerships and strategic acquisitions." Selling itself after just one month of existence may lie outside of Baxalta's ambitions.
But if the deal were to go through, the combined company would indeed have a formidable balance sheet and a roster of blockbuster drugs, including in the hematology, immunology, ADHD, and anti-infectives therapeutic spaces.