Shire Extends Tender Offer for ViroPharma

DUBLIN, December 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Shire plc (LSE: SHP, NASDAQ: SHPG) announces that it has extended the expiration of its previously announced tender offer by a wholly owned subsidiary of Shire for all of the outstanding common shares of ViroPharma (NASDAQ: VPHM) until midnight, New York City time, on Thursday, January 9, 2014 (one minute after 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on January 9, 2014). The tender offer had previously been scheduled to expire at 6:00 p.m., New York City time, on Thursday, December 26, 2013. All of the other terms and conditions of the tender offer remain unchanged.

As of 6:00 p.m. on December 26, 2013, approximately 50,217,259 common shares of ViroPharma (excluding 2,128,506 common shares of ViroPharma guaranteed to be delivered within the next three NASDAQ trading days) had been validly tendered and not withdrawn pursuant to the tender offer, representing approximately 76 percent of the outstanding common shares of ViroPharma.

NOTES TO EDITORS

Shire enables people with life-altering conditions to lead better lives.

Our strategy is to focus on developing and marketing innovative specialty medicines to meet significant unmet patient needs.

We provide treatments in Neuroscience, Rare Diseases, Gastrointestinal, Internal Medicine and Regenerative Medicine and we are developing treatments for symptomatic conditions treated by specialist physicians in other targeted therapeutic areas.

http://www.shire.com

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND WHERE TO FIND IT  

This announcement is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to purchase or a solicitation of an offer to sell ViroPharma common stock. The offer to buy ViroPharma common stock is being made pursuant to a tender offer statement (including the offer to purchase, letter of transmittal and other related tender offer materials) filed by Shire Pharmaceutical Holdings Ireland Limited (SPHIL) and a subsidiary of SPHIL with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on November 25, 2013. In addition, on November 25, 2013, ViroPharma filed with the SEC a solicitation/recommendation statement on Schedule 14D-9 with respect to the tender offer. Investors and security holders are urged to read both the tender offer statement and the solicitation/recommendation statement as they contain important information, including the terms and conditions of the tender offer, that should be read carefully before any decision is made with respect to the tender offer. Investors and security holders may obtain a free copy of these materials and other documents filed by SPHIL and ViroPharma with the SEC at the website maintained by the SEC at http://www.sec.gov/. The tender offer statement and related materials, and the solicitation/recommendation statement, may also be obtained for free by contacting the information agent for the offer, MacKenzie Partners, Inc., at [phone] or toll-free at [phone].