Ariad becomes first multi-billion pharma M&A deal of 2017

9 January 2017

2017 has kicked off with the first multi-billion dollar acquisition deal announced in the biopharma sector, with US biotech firm Ariad Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ARIA) agreeing to a bid from Japan’s largest drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceutical (TYO: 4502).

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. This is a premium of about 75% to Ariad's closing share price on January 6, though the stock was up 74.7% at $23.98 in pre-market trading.

The transaction has been approved unanimously by the boards of directors of both companies, and is expected to close by the end of February 2017, subject to required regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

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