London-listed drugmaker Shire and Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical plan to announce a preliminary deal on Wednesday, after the latter sweetened its $62 billion acquisition offer, people familiar with the matter said.
Shire is also expected to agree to an extension of a Wednesday regulatory deadline that would allow Takeda to carry out more due diligence and firm up its bid, the sources said on Tuesday on condition of anonymity to discuss the confidential negotiations.
Takeda and Shire did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.
--CNBC's Chloe Aiello contributed to this report.
