Takeda To Buy ARIAD For $24.00/shr; Accretive To FY18 Underlying Core Earnings

(RTTNews) - Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TKPYY.PK) and ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ARIA) announced a definitive agreement under which Takeda will acquire all of the outstanding shares in ARIAD for $24.00 per share in cash, or an enterprise value of approximately $5.2 billion. Sarissa Capital, the holder of 6.6% of ARIAD's common shares, as well as each of the members of ARIAD's Board, have agreed to tender their shares to Takeda pursuant to the offer. The transaction will be funded by up to $4.0 billion of new debt and the remainder from existing cash. The transaction has no impact on Takeda's dividend policy.

Takeda Pharma said the acquisition of ARIAD brings two innovative targeted therapies that will enhance the company's existing oncology portfolio. Brigatinib, an investigational drug product, has the potential to add a differentiated, global therapy in a genetically-defined subpopulation of non-small cell lung cancer. The addition of Iclusig will broaden Takeda's hematology franchise to include chronic myeloid leukemia and a subset of acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Takeda Pharma said, at the current stage, it expects minimal impact on underlying revenue and underlying core earnings. It is expected that the acquisition of ARIAD will be accretive to Takeda's underlying core earnings by fiscal 2018 and broadly neutral in fiscal 2017.