Takeda to move US base to Boston
Ahead of the completion of its acquisition of Shire, Takeda has announced the first part of the process by moving its headquarters away from Illinois, where 1,000 people are currently employed by the company.
Shire already has a significant presence in Massachusetts; it is the second largest employer in the state with 3,050 staff in the area.
“The work currently performed at Takeda's Deerfield location will progressively consolidate from Deerfield into the greater Boston area following a successful closing of the Shire acquisition,” a spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
The spokesperson continued, “This move, while difficult, will allow closer collaboration across Takeda to best position our future pipeline for success. It will also simplify our existing Takeda US operations.”
With the size of the deal, at $62bn (€53.36bn), Takeda is expected to make moves to lessen the debt burden by trying to find savings across both businesses, with it having previously stated that it would find $1.4bn of savings in annual costs.
As part of the release on the news, Takeda did not comment on whether jobs would be lost or on the future of Shire’s current operations based out of Illinois.
It is also unknown when the Deerfield space will close, with Takeda’s statement only suggesting that employees will be notified on their futures within six months of the Shire deal closing.
For Massachusetts, it represents another company lured to the state, which has already been signposted as an ever-strengthening hub in the biotech space.
