Takeda Pharmaceutical Company today announced the completion of its acquisition of Shire, becoming a global, values-based, R&D-driven biopharmaceutical leader headquartered in Japan.

Takeda now has an attractive, expanded geographic footprint and leading position in Japan and the US, bringing its highly-innovative medicines to approximately 80 countries/regions with dedicated employees worldwide. Takeda’s R&D efforts are focused on its four therapeutic areas of Oncology, Gastroenterology (GI), Neuroscience and Rare Diseases, with targeted R&D investment also committed to Plasma-Derived Therapies (PDT) and Vaccines. Takeda’s strengthened, highly innovative R&D engine enables the company to have a more global, robust and modality-diverse pipeline as well as to focus on breakthrough innovation.

The combined annual revenue of the company, exceeding $30 billion USD, is mainly derived from the key business areas of Oncology, GI, Neuroscience, Rare Diseases and PDT.

“We are delighted that the acquisition was approved by an overwhelming majority of our shareholders at Takeda’s extraordinary general meeting on December 5^th, 2018. We are also pleased to have completed the acquisition several months earlier than expected, which was enabled through the hard work of our respective organizations and the smooth receipt of regulatory clearances,” said Christophe Weber, President and Chief Executive Officer of Takeda. “We appreciate the support of our employees, partners and shareholders throughout the process. This marks a significant moment in Takeda’s history and is an exciting step forward as we accelerate our transformation journey to deliver highly-innovative medicines to patients around the world with expanded scale and geographical footprint.”

Weber continued, “The execution of our integration begins today, and we are confident in our ability to execute a smooth integration under the leadership of our experienced and diverse Takeda Executive Team with a strong track record. The Operating Model we established in September last year has set a clear framework for our integration plans, and we have a highly skilled and dedicated integration team leading the process.”

In order to fund the acquisition, Takeda has secured permanent financing with highly competitive rates, resulting in an overall blended interest rate for Takeda’s total debt of approximately 2.3%. The company is confident that it will retain its investment grade credit rating and return to a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 2.0x or less within three to five years following completion.