Shire Pharmaceuticals’ $1.6 billion acquisition of Transkaryotic Therapies has finally got the go-ahead from the UK firm’s shareholders, and the companies expect to complete the deal today.
In a press release issued yesterday, TKT shareholders will receive $37 dollars for each share held after 53% OKed the deal. Lydia Villa-Komaroff, Chairwoman of the Board of TKT said: “We are extremely pleased with the outcome….that the stockholders of TKT agree that the acquisition by Shire delivers full, fair and immediate cash value to our stockholders.”
Shire’s share price was boosted around 2.5% on the Nasdaq during morning trading yesterday, while trading in TKT was halted.
The deal was first unveiled in May [[22/04/05d]], but hit a hurdle in the shape of a key shareholder who said the price tag did not adequately reflect the firm’s value, claiming this had increased substantially following the release of positive data from a trial of its Hunter syndrome drug [[180705f]], [[04/07/05d]]. But TKT’s shareholders did finally give their blessing to the merger earlier this month, voting in favour of the transaction [[18/07/05f]].
Shire said it expects the acquisition to significantly enhance its sales and earnings growth beyond 2007, and to sustain its operating margin performance.
