Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. agreed to sell its Japanese consumer health care business for ¥242 billion ($2.3 billion) to Blackstone Group Inc., which plans to take the over-the-counter medication unit public in about five years.
For the drugmaker, the sale could represent one of the last big pieces of its plan to dispose $10 billion in assets after its $62 billion acquisition of Shire PLC last year.
The unit, which sold for a lower price than expected likely due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on its finances, could benefit from the government’s push to curb health care costs, including in prescription medicine. But it’s been losing ground to rivals in Japan in recent years and the Blackstone takeover could help rejuvenate the seller of household brands like Alinamin energy drinks and Benza Block cold medication.
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