Takeda: Successfully integrating a $62bn M&A,

by Costa Saroukos, Global CFO

The members and friends of the Harvard Club of Japan are invited to a Webinar event jointly organized by HBS Club of Japan (HBSCOJ) and American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ).

 

Date/time: Tuesday, January 17th, 2023, 18:00-19:00 PM JST via Zoom

Language: English

 

Please register from here to join the webinar:

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_XMpXRNcvTt6qJH679gXzBw

Successfully integrating a $62bn M&A

 

Takeda’s $62 billion acquisition of Shire in January 2019 was the largest foreign acquisition ever by a Japanese company and one of the largest pharmaceutical M&As in history.

The acquisition gave Takeda important global scale including a large expansion in the United States and boosted its long-term growth strategy by adding a large portfolio of global brands and expanding the company’s diverse R&D pipeline.

January 2023 marks four years since the close of the acquisition and in this event, Costa Saroukos, Takeda’s Chief Financial Officer, will talk about the integration and how Takeda management was able to introduce a swift and agile process to complete an ambitious divestiture program, reduce debt, and deliver synergies above target and one year ahead of schedule.

Costa Saroukos

Costa Saroukos is Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Member of the Board of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company.

 

He joined Takeda in May 2015 as Chief Financial Officer of the Europe and Canada Business Unit and was appointed Global CFO in March 2018. Mr. Saroukos is also a member of the Takeda Executive Team (TET) reporting to the company’s President & CEO.

 

Prior to joining Takeda, Mr. Saroukos was Head of Finance and Business Development at Allergan for the Asia-Pacific region, including China and Japan. He was also the Finance Director for Greater China and Japan. He also spent 13 years at Merck & Co. as the Executive Finance Director for EEMEA (Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa), Finance Director of South Korea, and Head of Internal Audit Asia Pacific and Global Joint Ventures.

 

Mr. Saroukos holds a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Accounting and is a member of the Australian Society of Certified Practicing Accounts.

Takeda is a global, values-based, R&D-driven biopharmaceutical leader headquartered in Japan, committed to discover and deliver life-transforming treatments, guided by our commitment to patients, our people and the planet. Takeda focuses its R&D efforts on four therapeutic areas: Oncology, Rare Genetics and Hematology, Neuroscience and Gastroenterology (GI), with expertise in immune and inflammatory diseases. We also make targeted R&D investments in Plasma-Derived Therapies and Vaccines. We are focusing on developing highly innovative medicines that contribute to making a difference in people’s lives by advancing the frontier of new treatment options and leveraging our enhanced collaborative R&D engine and capabilities to create a robust, modality-diverse pipeline.  Our employees are committed to improving quality of life for patients and to working with our partners in health care in approximately 80 countries and regions. For more information, visit https://www.takeda.com.

Organizing Committee: Korkut Bilgin (HBSCOJ & ACCJ), Tanaka Wakana (HBSCOJ), Walter Munakata (HBSCOJ), John Carlson (ACCJ), Eileen Kao (ACCJ)