Shire is willing to recommend an offer at revised terms from AbbVie for a deal to combine the two drugmakers after refusing the US drugmaker’s previous bids.

AbbVie’s cash-and-stock offer values Shire at about 53.20 pounds a share, though that price could change now that the companies will sit at the table to try and work out terms. There is no certainty a deal will be made, Shire said.

“The board of Shire has indicated to AbbVie that it would be willing to recommend an offer at the level of the revised proposal to Shire shareholders subject to satisfactory resolution of the other terms of the offer,” Shire said today in a statement.

“Accordingly, the Board is in detailed discussions with AbbVie in relation to these terms.”

AbbVie, based in Chicago, Illinois, has pursued Shire in order to move its legal address to the UK, which would drop the combined company’s tax rate to 13 per cent from about 22 per cent.

Shire’s rare disease treatments and drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder would also give AbbVie a broader array of products beyond the rheumatoid arthritis injection Humira, which accounts for more than half of sales.

Bloomberg