Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. is considering selling its over-the-counter medicine unit for around ¥300 billion ($2.9 billion) to U.S. investment fund Blackstone Group Inc., sources close to the matter said Wednesday.
Talks on the sale of Takeda Consumer Healthcare Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Japanese pharmaceutical giant, are in the final stage and the two companies plan to settle the deal by the end of this month, the sources said.
Takeda aims to shed non-core businesses to reduce debts after its ¥6.2 trillion purchase of Irish drugmaker Shire PLC in January last year — the largest-ever Japanese acquisition of a foreign company.