Japanese pharma Takeda has agreed to divest a number of over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription medicines in emerging markets to Acino for $200m.
These markets comprise Near East, Middle East and Africa (NEMEA) countries, which are all within Takeda’s Growth and Emerging Markets Business Unit.
Takeda is set to sell approximately 30 of its pharmaceutical assets to the Swiss pharma, which has a clear focus on selected markets in the Middle East, Africa, the CIS Region and Latin America.
Acino will acquire the rights, title and interest to the products included in the agreed portfolio, exclusive to the selected countries. The transaction is expected to close by the fourth quarter of 2019, and is subject to the satisfaction of closing conditions from Takeda.
“Takeda remains committed to this region, as we continue our work in accelerating access to our life-changing portfolio of innovative products to meet the needs of patients. We will do this via our commercial activities and Takeda’s Access to Medicines programme,” said Ricardo Marek, President, Growth and Emerging Markets Business Unit, Takeda.
“We are confident that Acino is best positioned to provide uninterrupted access and supply of the divested products to patients,” he added.
According to the company, while these products are outside of Takeda’s primary business areas, which are gastroenterology, rare diseases, plasma-derived therapies, oncology and neuroscience.
“The divestment of non-core assets sold in NEMEA represents the continued execution of our strategy to optimise our portfolio, invest in the defined core business areas, and accelerate our progress toward reaching our target leverage ratio,” said Costa Saroukos, chief financial officer, Takeda.
According to a statement from Takeda, it will use the cash from the deal to reduce its debts, following its takeover of Shire. The acquisition was initially met with some resistance from rebel shareholders, as the takeover will accrue a massive amount of debt – around $30bn.
However, Takeda maintained that Shire will help it grow outside Japan, and increase the company’s pipeline in the process. Takeda has already made a few sacrifices to fund the deal, including the sale of its Osaka headquarters.
This deal with Acino is unlikely to be the last for Takeda, as it continues to raise funds to counteract its debts. The takeover, if all goes smoothly, is expected to close on 8 January next year.