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AbbVie recommends stockholders to reject Shire deal


    (Reuters) - U.S. pharmaceutical company AbbVie Inc recommended stockholders to vote against its $55 billion takeover of Shire Plc in the wake of a U.S. government move to curb "inversion" deals that allow companies to escape high U.S. taxes by reincorporating abroad.

    "The agreed upon valuation is no longer supported as a result of the changes to the tax rules and we did not believe it was in the best interests of our stockholders to proceed," ABBVIE (ABBV.NY)Chief Executive Richard Gonzalez said in a statement.

    Chicago-based AbbVie had previously been eager to buy SHIRE (SHP.LO) partly due to the opportunity to reduce its U.S. tax bill by moving its tax base to Britain.

    (Reporting By Aurindom Mukherjee in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)