Leerink analyst Geoffrey Porges notes that Takeda (TKPYY) confirmed its intention and agreement to purchase Shire (SHPG) for $62B in cash and stock. For the broader biopharma industry, the analyst believes Takeda's ability to lever up to an estimated 5.4x net debt/EBITDA suggests that investors are underestimating the ability of large cap biopharma companies to pursue large transactions. Nearly all of the large cap biopharma companies face looming growth issues or suffer under revenue-concentration risk discounts that could be mitigated by large-scale acquisitions, he contends. Porges believes that if Takeda can execute the Shire acquisition while checking the boxes of investor demands of a net positive ROIC, instant EPS accretion, maintaining an investment grade credit rating, and massive synergy savings, then others in the biopharma industry with stronger balance sheets and larger valuations can contemplate transactions that are substantially larger even than Shire.