Pharma giant Takeda enters into $7.5bn loan agreement to fund Shire takeover
Japanese pharmaceutical giant Takeda announced today that entered into a $7.5bn (£5.6bn) term loan credit agreement to fund Shire merger, with several financial institutions.
The loan will be used to pay off a portion of the company's £46bn deal to take over the Ireland-based pharmaceutical company Shire which was agreed upon on 8 May.
Although most of the funding will come from Japanese banks MUFG, Mizuho and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, New York-based J.P. Morgan Chase Bank is also involved in the deal.
Costa Saroukos, Takeda's chief financial officer, said: “We are pleased to have secured the term loan facility with backing from leading global financial institutions, which enables us to successfully de-risk a substantial portion of our bridge facility as we continue to make progress towards completing our proposed acquisition of Shire.
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After a lengthy negotiation process Shire and Takeda finally reached an agreement on takeover terms, but the transaction is still subject to the approval of shareholders from both companies.
If the deal goes ahead as planned, Shire shareholders will hold around half of the shares in the merged company.
“This agreement supports our intention to maintain our well-established dividend policy and investment grade rating following closing of the transaction,” Saroukos continued.
“The heavy demand to participate in the agreement – exceeding our financing need of $7.5bn – reflects a strong vote-of-confidence from these leading global financial institutions in Takeda and our strategy to continue generating value for our investors.”
Read more: Shire and Takeda finally agree on £46bn deal on the morning of deadline day