Legal Business

Slaughters, Davis Polk and Skadden cash in on Shire’s biggest ever takeover

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Dublin-headquartered Shire, took to the January sales with the $1.5bn it received in a break-fee from US pharma giant AbbVie following the collapse of their proposed $55bn tie-up late last year, securing the acquisition of biotech firm NPS Pharma.

The company returned to Slaughter and May, which drafted the AbbVie break-fee due to the political climate around tax inversion deals, to advise on the purchase of biotech NPS for $5.2bn. The deal is Shire’s largest-ever acquisition and comes amid increased pressure to deliver shareholder value.