London-listed drugmaker Shire Plc succumbed to an increased 31 billion pounds ($53 billion) takeover offer from Abbvie Inc on Monday, signaling the conclusion to a long-running courtship largely motivated by tax.Shire said it was ready to recommend the deal, the latest in a list of mergers proposed by U.S. firms seeking to cut their tax rates, and which comes less than seven weeks after the collapse of Pfizer Inc's $118 billion bid for AstraZeneca Plc, also motivated in part by tax factors.Chicago-based AbbVie, which wants to purchase Shire to cut its tax bill and diversify its product line-up, increased its offer to 53.20 pounds per share on Sunday, following a request from the Dublin-based group which had rejected four previous bids.Citing people familiar with the matter, Reuters had reported on Saturday that Shire, a maker of drugs for rare diseases, had asked AbbVie to sweeten its offer to near 53 pounds per share in order for it to recommend the deal.
AbbVie Inc. (AbbVie) is a research-based pharmaceuticals company. Shares of ABBV fell by 0.74% or $-0.41/share to $54.96. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $42.25 and as high as $58.27. On average, 5832730 shares of ABBV exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 13593883.
AstraZeneca PLC (AstraZeneca) is a global biopharmaceutical company. Shares of AZN fell by 0.28% or $-0.21/share to $74.51. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $48.53 and as high as $82.68. On average, 5449850 shares of AZN exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 615494.
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