Several Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. shareholders have formed a group lobbying against the company's £46 billion deal acquisition of Shire PLC, the Financial Times reported, citing anonymous sources.
The group, which holds over 1% of the Japanese drugmaker's stock, have hired Shigeru Mishima, a former UBS analyst, to help with their campaign.
The group includes several founding family members of the Japanese company who have expressed concerns over Takeda's intention to take on a massive debt load to fund the acquisition. The group is also questioning the prospects of Shire's hemophilia business.
The shareholders are asking CEO Christophe Weber to drop the bid and focus on buying small to mid-sized biopharmaceutical companies instead. Weber is trying to win the support of large institutional investors for his plan, which requires the approval of two-thirds of the company's shareholders, according to the report.
According to Mishima, Takeda will not be able to make any further acquisition given the size of the Shire acquisition.
