Shire plans to buy Baxalta with $32 B cash-stock offer

Irish drugmaker Shire plans to pay about $32 billion in cash and stock to buy Baxalta and strengthen its position in rare disease treatments.

Shire says it will pay Baxalta shareholders $18 in cash and a portion of a Shire share for each Baxalta share. That adds up to a per-share price of $45.57 per share based on Friday’s closing price of Shire’s U.S.-traded stock.

The boards of both companies have agreed to the deal, and they expect it to close in the middle of the year.

Shire had made an initial run at Bannockburn, Illinois-based Baxalta last summer, with a $30 billion offer that its target rejected as too low.

Shares of both companies are climbing in premarket trading.