Takeda says no deal for Nycomed. Sources say, 'not yet'

After a flurry of media reports yesterday about a potential deal between Takeda Pharmaceutical Industries and Nycomed, the Japanese drugmaker is emphasizing that it hasn't in fact agreed to a buyout. "The company would like to make clear,"said a statement on its website, "that Takeda has not agreed to any such an agreement as suggested by certain newspaper publications."

But that doesn't mean a deal isn't in the offing. Reuters sources maintain that a deal for Nycomed is in the works, but wrapping it up could take time. Various people close to the deal have said Takeda was negotiating to buy the Swiss drugmaker for anywhere from €8 billion to €10 billion, or $12 billion to $14 billion.

Takeda's stock dropped on the deal news. Analysts, however, see some benefit in the combo. Nycomed would give Takeda a stronger presence in emerging markets, for one thing. "It would be better if [Takeda] had more exposure to the developing markets," analyst MF Global FXA Securities analyst Stephen Barker told the Wall Street Journal. "It's not just them. Most of the Japanese pharmaceutical companies are behind the rest of the global pharmaceutical industry in terms of developing markets outside of the U.S., Europe and Japan."

The talks could still fail, Bloomberg's sources said. And as Takeda's statement maintained, "[T]here is nothing that needs to be announced at this point." But that could change in a few days; Bloomberg says that a deal announcement could be forthcoming as soon as next week.

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