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Shire share price slides on fears US will stop tax deals
Shares in drugmaker Shire plunged over four per cent yesterday due to fears that the US may clamp down on tax inversion deals and prevent its £32bn takeover by AbbVie.
The US Treasury said on Tuesday that it was reviewing plans to stop tax benefits for US companies that relocated overseas, to curtail the recent wave of so-called tax inversions. AbbVie’s tax rate will fall from 22 per cent to 13 per cent on completion of the takeover.
The broader sector was hit by the news. Britain’s Astrazeneca, which fended off a hostile £69bn hostile takeover bid from US rival Pfizer in May, saw its share price fall more than three per cent, while Smith and Nephew fell 4.5 per cent.