U.S. drugmaker AbbVie Inc said on Monday it has reached agreement with Shire Plc to officially call off its proposed $55 billion purchase of the Irish company, and will pay Shire a $1.64 billion breakup fee for walking away from the deal. AbbVie, which last week said its board of directors had withdrawn its recommendation to proceed with the Shire purchase, blamed the unraveling on last month's rules changes by the U.S. Treasury Department aimed at curtailing a wave of such deals in which U.S. companies would redomicile overseas to take advantage of lower corporate tax rates in other countries.
AbbVie Inc. (AbbVie) is a research-based pharmaceuticals company. Shares of ABBV traded higher by 1.95% or $1.04/share to $54.41. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $45.50 and as high as $60.02. On average, 14302300 shares of ABBV exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 17954636.
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