Shares in Irish pharmaceutical firm Shire soared over 20 percent on Wednesday, after Japanese Takeda Pharmaceutical said it may make an offer to buy Shire’s business.
The Japanese firm said its consideration is still “at a preliminary and exploratory stage and no approach has been made to the board of Shire.”
Shares in Shire (LON:SHP) are currently trading up 21.79 percent at 3,739.00 (1136GMT), valuing the group’s equity at roughly £34.9 billion.
Takeda is taking advice on making a potential big from Evercore, JPMorgan Chase and Nomura.
2018 has been a busy year so far for pharmaceutical companies after a quiet 2017, with deals adding up to $138.7 billion so far. Earlier this week Novartis sold its 36.5 percent stake in their joint venture, the Consumer Healthcare Business, to Glaxo Smith Kline. GSK will be paying £9.2 billion for the stake in the business, which manufactures Sensodyne toothpaste, Panadol headache tablets and Nicotinell patches.
Recent tax cuts in America, bringing corporation tax down from 35 percent to 21 percent, are also expected to boost M&As in the market.
