why on earth has this exciting pharma company been ignored her for the last 3.5 years? ...... lots has happened in that time, generally for the better on the longer view ..... from a purely chart point of view, the 200 mda is rising quite steadily, with sp recovering well after a sharp fall, and now, after a brief tease below, is therefore probably worth buying on that basis alone.

From memory, Shares mag was also quite excited about this stock a week or two back, even though that medium has supported some classic stinkers in its time

The headline says: Exclusive

SP down as Shire proposes combining with Baxalta

Guardian comment:
The old wisdom said hostile deals don’t work in
the world of cutting-edge pharmaceutical research
because successful science requires willing partners.
In the current bid-a-week biotech bonanza, such niceties
can be thrown out of the window, it seems. Shire, the
Dublin-based and London-listed outfit, has gone hostile
with an all-share $30bn approach to US group Baxalta
after being given the cold shoulder by a company spun
out of former parent Baxter only last month. “You have
left us with no choice but to make our proposal known
to your shareholders,” wrote Flemming Ornskov,
Shire’s chief executive and chief-deal-doer, to his Baxalta counterpart.
No choice? In today’s biotech world, that is indeed the thinking.
The sector is awash with mergers and acquisitions and all are
obliged to play..

Aug 18: JP Morgan: Overweight - TP: 6600p

Cantor Fitzgerald today reaffirms its buy investment rating on Shire PLC (LON:SHP) and raised its price target to 6300p (from 5900p).

Exane BNP Paribas today reaffirms its outperform investment rating on Shire PLC (LON:SHP) and set its price target at 5900p

don't we all wish we'ld bought this one recently, though you'ld have been very brave to have done so if you look at the chart .....

Shire shares rocket as Japan’s Takeda considers offer
Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical said on Wednesday that it is “considering making an approach” to buy Shire, the Irish drugmaker.
Takeda said its consideration is still “at a preliminary and exploratory stage and no approach has been made to the board of Shire.” Shire shares in London surged by more than a fifth on the news, valuing the group’s equity at roughly £34.9bn.

SHP
likely to open about 25% higher as takeda table new and recommended bid at £49

LONDON/TOKYO (Reuters) - Takeda Pharmaceutical (4502.T) agreed to buy London-listed Shire (SHP.L) for 45.3 billion pounds on Tuesday after the Japanese company raised the amount of cash in its offer to secure a recommendation.

The deal — assuming it wins the backing of shareholders — will be the largest overseas acquisition by a Japanese company and propel Takeda, led by Frenchman Christophe Weber, into the top ranks of global drugmakers.

The tie-up is one of the largest ever in the pharmaceuticals sector, crowning a hectic few months of deal-making as big drugmakers look to improve their pipelines by bringing in promising medicines developed by younger companies.

The enlarged group will be a leader in treatments in gastroenterology, neuroscience, oncology, rare diseases and blood-derived therapies, used for serious conditions such as haemophilia.

The agreement came on the last day for Takeda to make a firm bid. Shire had rejected four previous offers, due to price concerns and the fact that the Japanese company is proposing to pay for much of the acquisition in stock.

The final deal is approximately 46 percent cash and 54 percent stock, leaving Shire shareholders owning around half of the combined group.

Shire investors will receive $30.33 in cash and either 0.839 new Takeda shares or 1.678 Takeda American depositary shares for each share, the companies said, valuing the offer at 48.17 pounds a share based on the latest price and exchange rate.

Shire’s shares, which had been trading about 10 pounds below the value of Takeda’s offer, traded 4 percent higher at just over 40 pounds, still well under the agreed price and indicating that shareholders still have reservations.

Jefferies analysts said they expected the shares to trade at a relatively wide discount to the offer, given the large stock component and the fact that the deal is not expected to close until the first half of 2019.

Although the deal must get the support of 75 percent of Shire’s voting shareholders, some of whom do not want to hold Takeda paper, Weber told reporters he believed investors would back the transaction.