Ex-Takeda chairman comes out against Shire purchase

$62bn megadeal faces shareholder votes next week

20181127N Shire

Vitamins made by Shire. Takeda plans to buy the Irish drugmaker for $62 billion and has received approval from antitrust authorities in China, Japan, the U.S. and Europe.

NORIYUKI TAKADA, Nikkei staff writer

TOKYO -- A Takeda Pharmaceutical former chairman credited with the company's rapid growth has expressed his opposition to Takeda's $62 billion acquisition of Irish drugmaker Shire, breaking a long silence.

Mergers and acquisitions are necessary in the pharmaceutical industry, "but the Shire deal's risk is high," Kunio Takeda told Nikkei through a representative.

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