Takeda Secures $940M from Divestitures of Non-Core Latin American Brands and U.S. Headquarters

Text | Fan Dongdong

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited is actively divesting assets. Recently, the company further reduced its debt through two transactions, including transferring certain non-core Latin American brands to Brazilian company Hypera Pharma and selling its former U.S. headquarters to Horizon Therapeutics.

On March 1, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited announced that it had agreed to sell 18 branded prescription and consumer healthcare products in the Latin American market to Hypera Pharma for $825 million. Meanwhile, Takeda relocated its U.S. operations from Chicago to the Greater Boston area and sold its former headquarters for $115 million.

The key drugs involved in the sale agreement with Hypera include the analgesic Neosaldina, the DPP-4 inhibitor Nesina for type 2 diabetes, and the over-the-counter medication Dramin. Since Takeda’s massive acquisition of Shire, these 18 products have remained excluded from Takeda’s five core therapeutic areas of focus. As of March last year, the total sales of these products amounted to $215 million.

Ricardo Marek, Head of Takeda’s Emerging Markets business, stated in a press release that Takeda remains firmly committed to emerging markets and Latin America. The purpose of this divestiture is to enable the company to focus its investments on other therapeutic areas in these countries, including gastroenterology, rare diseases, plasma-derived therapies, oncology, and neuroscience.

The transaction is expected to be completed in the second half of 2020. Takeda stated that upon completion, approximately 300 employees responsible for the corresponding product lines will have the opportunity to join Hypera. Takeda will also continue to manufacture these products for Hypera in the future.

Over the past year, Takeda has been divesting non-core assets, with the ultimate goal of raising approximately $10 billion from a series of sales to alleviate its substantial debt. These transactions include selling the ophthalmic drug Xiidra to Novartis for an upfront payment of $3.4 billion and potential milestone payments of $1.9 billion; selling the surgical hemostatic patch TachoSil to Ethicon, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, for $400 million; selling the rights to approximately 30 over-the-counter and prescription drugs in the Middle East and African markets to Acino International for over $200 million; and selling certain assets in Russia to Stada for $660 million.

For Hypera, this deal could further solidify its position as Brazil’s leading pharmaceutical company. This follows its previous $319 million acquisition of Boehringer Ingelheim’s painkiller, Buscopan. Reportedly, Hypera’s competitor EMS also participated in both bids.

On the other hand, Horizon also appears pleased to have reached a collaboration agreement with Takeda and plans to complete the relocation in the second half of 2020.

This is not the first time Takeda has sold off its real estate assets. Having recently opened its new global headquarters in Tokyo, the company had previously divested its assets in Osaka. Additionally, Takeda plans to sell a biologics manufacturing plant in Ireland valued at $400 million.

Nor will this be Takeda’s last asset divestment, as the company is committed to reducing its debt to twice its adjusted EBITDA within the next three to five years, and may therefore continue to significantly sell off pharmaceutical assets worldwide.

Reference Source: Takeda nets $940M from sales of U.S. HQ to Horizon, Latin American brands to Hypera