Shire Plc. Rejects $46B Takeover Offer from AbbVie Inc (ABBV)

Shares of AbbVie Inc (ABBV) were up on Friday morning following reports that Ireland-based Shire Plc. has rejected its takeover offer.

Shire reported that it has declined ABBV’s $46 billion offer to acquire the company. The company has been attractive to U.S. healthcare companies due to Ireland’s favorable tax rate on rare diseases businesses.

The offer was declined as Shire believes that the deal would undervalue the company. This was ABBV’s second offer to acquire the company. Although ABBV has not commented on whether it will make another attempt to purchase the Irish company, UK rules require that it must present an offer by July 18 if it chooses to continue.

ABBV Dividend Snapshot

As market close on June 19, 2014

Click here to see the complete history of ABBV dividends.

AbbVie shares were up $2.31, or 4.26% during pre-market trading Friday. The stock is up 2.61% YTD.