LONDON (Reuters) - Shire's (L:SHP) own deal-making capacity is likely to push the drugmaker's annual sales "way north" of the $10 billion (5.88 billion pounds)it is currently forecasting for 2020 on the basis of the existing portfolio, its chief executive said on Monday.
"M&A will clearly add growth to the profile," Flemming Ornskov said in an interview, noting that the London-listed company had done six deals since he took over 13 months ago.
Shire has rejected a $46 billion takeover approach from AbbVie (N:ABBV) and is setting out details of a long-term plan to at least double product sales to $10 billion in 2020, arguing that this is evidence the U.S. group's offer undervalues it.
This forecast does not include the impact of future M&A, in-licensing opportunities and pipeline development from the recent Fibrotech and Lumena transactions. "If I included that in the upside it would be way north of $10 billion," Ornskov said.
Shire itself has been a serial acquirer, buying rare disease specialist Viropharma for $4.2 billion last November in its biggest deal yet - and Ornskov said he could envisage further "large" deals in future.
The company has long been seen as a takeover target for larger pharmaceutical groups, triggering speculation that AbbVie's move on the company may prompt other rivals to enter the bidding war. Ornskov declined to comment on whether there had been approaches from other possible acquirers.
One potential issue for bidders is the fact that Shire's current management team is relatively new, with Ornskov in the post only since May 2013. However, Ornskov said he would not be an obstacle to any takeover deal that was recommended by the board.
(Reporting by Ben Hirschler, Editing by Paul Sandle)