U.S. drugmaker AbbVie finally wins Dublin's Shire with $55 billion deal

[riky]

U.S. drugmaker AbbVie finally wins Dublin's Shire with $55 billion deal

<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/u-drugmaker-abbvie-finally-wins-dublins-shire-55-002331130--finance.html"><img src="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/DoDOCVID.idVM0WOpZ4jww--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9NzU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2014-07-18T092755Z_1_LYNXMPEA6H0ED_RTROPTP_2_SHIRE-ABBVIE.JPG" width="130" height="86" alt="Vitamins made by Shire are displayed at a chemist's in northwest London" align="left" title="Vitamins made by Shire are displayed at a chemist's in northwest London" border="0" /></a>By Paul Sandle LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. drugmaker AbbVie Inc bought Dublin-based Shire Plc on Friday in a 32 billion pound ($54.7 billion) deal that will allow it to slash its tax bill by relocating to Britain. The London-listed company, which makes expensive medicines to treat rare diseases, fought off four earlier bids from AbbVie until the U.S. firm raised its price to 52.48 pounds per share - made up of 24.44 pounds in cash and 0.8960 new AbbVie shares. Chicago-based AbbVie is buying Shire to cut both its U.S. tax bill and its reliance on arthritis drug Humira, the world's top selling medicine which loses U.S. patent protection in 2016. AbbVie, which generates nearly 60 percent of its revenue from Humira, had until Friday to announce a firm offer for Shire, extend the deadline or walk away under UK takeover rules.</p><br clear="all"/>

Source: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login