Shire preparing to mount new bid for Baxalta

British drugmaker Shire Plc is preparing to table a new takeover offer for Baxalta, almost four months after the US biotech firm rejected its unsolicited $30-billion bid saying that it significantly undervalued the company.

Shire is working with Morgan Stanley, Evercore and Deutsche Bank on the offer which could be structured in cash and shares, Reuters yesterday reported, citing a source with direct knowledge of the situation.

In May, Shire had said it was interested in acquiring Baxalta, a company spun-off by Baxter International, for $30 billion to emerge as the leading global specialist in rare diseases.

Baxalta, which currently has a market capitalisation of nearly $23 billion, in August rejected the unsolicited takeover bid saying that the offer significantly undervalued the company. (See: Baxalta rejects drugmaker Shire's approach)

Shire's then all-share offer valued Baxalta shares at $45.23 apiece at 3 August market prices.

Baxalta has already adopted a "poison pill" defence, which makes any unwanted takeover very expensive for the buyer.

Illinois-based Baxalta, which has a workforce of around 16,000, develops biotech treatments for rare blood conditions, cancers and immune system disorders and has annual revenue of $ 6 billion.

Baxalta offeres Shire a promising range of new products to complement its expanding portfolio of high-priced treatments for rare or "orphan" diseases, and a combined company would see revenues of over $20 billion a year by 2020.

London-listed Shire focuses on treatments in rare diseases, neuroscience, gastrointestinal and internal medicine and is developing treatments for symptomatic conditions treated by specialist physicians in other targeted therapeutic areas, such as ophthalmics.

Early this month, it agreed to acquire US biotech Dyax Corp for $6.5 billion in cash