Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. is considering selling its symbolic Osaka headquarters building to help finance the 46 billion pound ($60 billion) deal to acquire Irish drugmaker Shire Plc., sources close to the matter said Friday.
The building, located in Dosho in the city of Osaka, western Japan, stands on the same site where the company was founded in 1781. While Takeda has moved its headquarter functions to its Tokyo office, the building in Dosho, historically known as a town of medicine, is registered as its official headquarters.
(Takeda Pharmaceutical's headquarters in Osaka)
Takeda is expected to raise tens of billions of yen through the sale of the building, in an effort to bolster its finances and quell criticism by some of its shareholders that the Shire deal is too costly.
The purchase of London-listed Shire amounts to the biggest-ever Japanese acquisition of a foreign company.
Takeda is aiming to win shareholder approval in early 2019 for an issue of new shares to finance the acquisition, and close the deal by next June.
Among other efforts to streamline its businesses, Takeda sold last year its roughly 70 percent stake in its chemical research unit Wako Pure Chemical Industries Ltd. to Fujifilm Holdings Corp. for around 155 billion yen.
It has also decided to sell properties, including a former Tokyo headquarters building in the capital's Chuo Ward, to department store operator Takashimaya Co. for around 50 billion yen.
