this is business live from bbc news with maryam moshiri and sally bundock. it's japan's biggest ever overseas takeover. drugs giant ta keda gets set to buy shire in a deal worth $59 billion. yes — live from london, that's our top story on wednesday 5th december. ta keda's shareholders approved the deal in the last few hours and shire‘s investors are expected to vote it through later today. we'll assess the impact on the pharmaceutical industry. also in the programme: after days of delay, china says it will implement a peace deal reached with the us over trade. we'll cross live to shanghai for the details. european stocks have opened, the sell—off from yesterday continues.

also, how do you make money when your entire business revolves around just one very special day a year? we'll find out from a man whose company supplies christmas trees. today we want to know. if you celebrate christmas, are you planning on buying a real or artificial tree? which is betterfor the environment? what is the great debate in your home. do let us know, on bbc biz live. hello and welcome to business live. we start with the biggest—ever overseas acquisition by a japanese company, which looks set to go ahead. shareholders in takeda pharmaceutical have approved its planned takeover of ireland's shire, traded on the london stock exchange, at an extraordinary general meeting in osaka. that's despite a small group of investors voicing opposition. he pharma mega—merger values shire at almost £59 billion.

shareholders in shire are to vote on the merger plan later today in dublin. takeda is run by the frenchman christophe weber who says the takeover will bring cost savings and help the enlarged company to become a market leader in areas including neruoscience, cancer treatments and rare diseases. one potentially lucrative treatment is being sold off because the eu didn't want competition to be stifled. it's a treatment for inflammatory bowel disease, being developed by shire, which is similar to one already sold by takeda. but there's still plenty of money to be made for the combined drug company as itjoins the ranks of the world's top 10. an estimated $7.2 trillion was spent globally on healthcare in 2015. joining us now: joe batarseh, director

and portfolio manager at coutts. give us your take. last night could have been a big hurdle at the agm in japan but unanimously shareholders voted by 88% to let it through. despite the fact $59 billion, a lot of money, and takeda will have to ta ke of money, and takeda will have to take on quite a bit of debt to make this happen. roughly $31 billion of debt, a lot of money in an almost $60 billion transaction, naturally there were shareholders concerned about the size of the debt and the ability to maintain dividends. the ceo is determined to go for this, they are talking about the big benefits, what do you think this will look like, this newly formed company, what will be the big and if it's for them and some of the headwinds? one very big benefits, it

will give takeda much larger access to the biggest pharmaceutical market in the world, the us, at the moment, about one third of revenues are generated in the us, once the deal goes through, it will be roughly half their revenue generated in the us, which is massive. the other attractive area which they operate m, attractive area which they operate in, rare disease treatments, whereby they have pricing power, because they have pricing power, because they are the only people that can provide drugs that help to treat diseases that other drugs cannot, it can touch hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. —— cost. can touch hundreds of thousands of dollars peryear. —— cost. because of the nature of diseases, they can generally fast track treatments through the approvals process, because otherwise, people who are ill will not be able to be treated. looking at the us market and takeda wanting some of that action, it is lucrative, it is very high net in terms of the money made in the us, but for how long, so must little

debate in the us about the fact drugs there are overpriced and the way the health service works, the loser is the patient. that is correct, there clearly are pricing pressures, the obama administration made it a little more difficult, hillary clinton would have made it even more difficult, and donald trump is making noises about it. access to the us markets, that trumps questions that come with it and that is the view takeda has taken. as and when we hear about the decision in dublin, we will update you. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. british telecom is reportedly planning to remove equipment made by china's huawei's from its core 4g network within two years. the ft says the move will bring bt‘s mobile phone business in line with an internal policy to keep huawei's equipment at the edge of telecoms infrastructure.

earlier this year, australia and new zealand banned huawei from supplying equipment, citing security risks. the civil aviation authority has said it is taking legal action against ryanair over its refusal to compensate thousands of uk—based customers. their flights were cancelled or delayed over the summer because of strikes by ryanair pilots and cabin crew. the caa says they are entitled to compensation under eu law. chanel has become the first luxury fashion house in the world to stop using exotic animal skins, including snake, crocodile, lizard and stingray. the firm says it had become harder to source materials ethically. chanel willl also stop using fur. well done, chanel, isay. absolutely, absolutely. it's been a rollercoaster week for global stock markets, with shares surging on monday on hopes of a resolution to the us—china trade war, then tumbling on tuesday as scepticism set in. but optimism is back, now that china has pledged speedy implementation of promises it made to donald trump at the g20 summit.

robin brant is in shanghai. china has spoken on the deal agreed, after president trump and his opposite number spoke across the table, changes will be implemented as soon as table, changes will be implemented as soon as possible, that is as far as soon as possible, that is as far as they have gone in terms of any timescale, the meeting was a successful one, they are clear on implementing the commitments agreed, but as soon as possible is all we are getting in terms of detail, in terms of implementing the changes agreed. that particularly pertains to tariffs on automobiles imported into china from the united states. president trump has claimed china has agreed to cut the tariff down

from 40 to 25%, so as soon as possible from the chinese side, that puts them at odds with what we got from one of the white house's most senior economic advisers, talking over the past couple of days about pledges from the chinese side to make changes immediately. two different versions of the timescale here. thank you very much indeed. asian markets slipped on wednesday following the sell—off on wall street. worries about the global economy and corporate earnings growth, and financial stocks and car and machinery stocks particularly badly hit on the nikkei, of course those types of stocks are more sensitive to changing global demand. chinese stocks down, investors worried that the 90—day truce between the us and china not long enough for the two sides to settle their differences. lets look at what has been happening

on wall street, what is going to be happening through the week. we have the latest from new york. talk about a quick sugar high and the crash that comes after, we have seen all the major index is down more than 396, the major index is down more than 3%, the bank stocks leading the way but it was notjust bank stocks, it was transportation stocks, industrial stocks, caterpillar, general electric, you name it, so many in the red, a lot of this has to do with concerns, warning signals flashing from the bond market suggesting there is perhaps worries about economic growth lying in the future. the yield curve, you touched on that, the idea that the interest paid on two—year bonds is the gap between that and the interest paid on ten year bonds is narrowing, it is what they call flat, it has not inverted yet, but the suggestion is if it does invert, then the

likelihood of a recession is much higher, and that is why market watchers are paying attention to this and getting spooked today. michelle, thank you, making sense of the yield curve for us. trevor, thank you forjoining us. head of multi—asset at royal london asset management. give us your take. the main thing is, we had the stock market weakness in october running into november, which resulted in quite a lot of policy changes for china, emulating the economy, donald trump has cancelled the 25% tariffs from january that he was going to put on chinese goods, big job macro backdrop in oil price, the federal reserve is in a big race to drop in oil rates. we had a tweet from the president of america saying, i am tariff man, if i don't get a good deal with china, there will be no

deal. a new superhero. apparently, he said, make america richer again. the dowjones dropping 800 points! the dowjones dropping 800 points! the markets do not want to tariffs, it throw sand in the gears of global business to have tariffs, i don't think we will have it, there was a lot of soap opera with trump, he is moving toward some kind of deal with china, what he is annoyed about, he likes to brag about what the deal was, when it was a behind closed doors situation, the chinese kept quiet, he was cross about that, if i don't get a good deal, there won't bea don't get a good deal, there won't be a deal. overnight, the chinese have said, there is a deal, we have made lots of process. that is why a “ progress. made lots of process. that is why a —— progress. that is why in europe, it is much more muted. we have to talk about brexit, defeat for the government, what do the markets make of it? they think it is going to go that way, the pound is going to go that way, the pound is going to go that way... clear as crystal! the

options of theresa may's deal, no deal or no "brexit", theresa may's deal or no "brexit", theresa may's deal seems like it won't fly, so it is no deal against nope brexit, and that became more viable yesterday, with the initial rumour from the european court of —— ruling from the european court of —— ruling from the european court of justice. european court of —— ruling from the european court ofjustice. no, it was a recommendation. the initial opinion, but it is expected that the ecj opinion, but it is expected that the eq will opinion, but it is expected that the ecj will back that up. what it says is, you can look at the two—year article 50 period as a cooling off period, consumer finance, that it could go back to its old steel, without shame, so, game on. watch this space! the fat lady has not yet begun to sing. still to come, the countdown is on,

with christmas almost upon us. we'll be talking to a major supplier of christmas trees — to find out how a company makes money, when its focused on just one day a year. you're with business live from bbc news. before we talk trees, let's talk public transport. the public transport operator stagecoach has reported a £22 million loss in the first half of the year. it's mainly because of a once—off cost suffered by its us business where it plans to sell some or all of its operations. here in the uk where stagecoach operates bus services, the east midlands rail network and has a big share in virgin rail, management say that earnings were ahead of expectations. helal miah is an investment research analyst at the share centre. shares are actually up 5%, the markets seem to be pleased with the results. even higher now, up 896,

they are pleased with the results, although the markets have factored in some negative news, the fact they lost the franchise for the south—west line, the nationalisation of the virgin east coast line, earlier on of the virgin east coast line, earlieron in of the virgin east coast line, earlier on in the year, that had a dampening impact on revenues. the operating numbers were reasonably good, the bus network, especially in the regional market, seems to be beating expectation, and there is a reason we are seeing beating expectation, and there is a reason we are seeing shares up by 8% at the moment. challenging situation in north america for the company. competition in america is hotting up, fairly small division at the moment, they have put it up for sale, effectively considering a sale, effectively considering a sale, but because they see future revenues may be dampened down, for the time being, they have, into the accounts, they have put in a goodwill impairment, that is why they have gone into the loss on the reported basis. good to talk to you, thank you.

as concerns rya nair, as concerns ryanair, the strikes we re as concerns ryanair, the strikes were an exceptional circumstance, and it is that turn, they are using asa and it is that turn, they are using as a way of not delivering on the eu 261 compensation that should apply to passengers when they are delayed by airlines in the circumstances. we will see how that unfolds for ryanair, in terms of what it has to pay out for compensation in the future. absolutely. you're watching bbc news. japan's biggest ever overseas takeover look set to go ahead.

shareholders in the drugs giant takeda have approved a deal to buy the irish company shire for $59 billion. shire's investors vote on the deal later today. a quick look at how the markets are faring. it is turning out today to be a day of serious decline, all the main markets down by over 1%. now let's get seasonal and get the inside track on the christmas tree market. it isa it is a market you can bet cannot get into very quickly. —— it is a market you can't get into very quickly. it takes eight years to grow the perfect 6ft tree so there is a lot of planning, nurturing and maintenance involved. and there is a lot of demand, the british christmas tree growers association estimates on average 7 million trees are purchased by britons every year.

of thoes 80% are the nordman fir, which has very good needle retention, while15% are the norway spruce, often seen as the traditional tree. that makes the uk market for real christmas trees worth some $357 million a year. of those 7 million trees, over 60,000 a year are sold by our next guest, from both their website and london stores. with us now are the founders of pines and needles, sam lyle and his brotherjosh lyle. you were 13, your older brother... your older brother said, here is some land, make of it what you will. tell us the story. you were a mere teenager, you were thrown into, given an entrepreneurial challenge.

our older brother has a dry cleaning store in maida vale, he had a brainwave to sell christmas trees outside the shop, our dad had an area of land with norway spruce trees, that was going to be clear felled and he thought, let's try to sell them. heat he got his younger brothers to do the selling, he thought, this is great pocket money, and we have not stopped ever since. filling in the viewers on the family, your part of the generational history of tate & lyle. quite far down... but still. in terms of financial backing, at the beginning? it helped in terms of us being able to plant trees and borrow a tractor, so it has definitely helped from that perspective. the question we have asked today, if you have a business like yours thatjust sells a product at a certain time of

year, how do you make money all year? it is really like any farming, there is a set time of year for harvest, and taking products to market, all year round, we prepare for this one. do you make enough money in november and december to sustain you through the year, for the business to be viable, without doing anything else? do you do other things? in the past we did other things? in the past we did other things but now it is full growing, preparing, for a small group of us. and christmas time explodes. i'm amazed you have time for us this morning! your christmas trees, you sell them at battery park, a couple of years ago, a famous new couple came and bought a christmas tree from your battersea park sales area, how big a deal was it. —— battersea park. harry and meghan came along. it was pretty huge, the phonesjust consta ntly it was pretty huge, the phonesjust constantly ringing after that, from the press, to hear about it, the

romantic moment of buying the tree together. it was the gift that has not stopped giving for us! what is the key to a good tree, when should, when should the tree by purchase the tree, because the whole thing of it looking good, sustainability and that whole story. the more popular tree, nordmann fir, that has pretty good lasting credentials, as long it is givena good lasting credentials, as long it is given a fresh cut and put into a water holding stand. we encourage people to buy a tree in the first week of december so they can enjoy it. plastic or real, which is more environmentally friendly? i have heard that if you use plastic for a few years, it is better than using a real one you every year. the carbon trust have done research, it shows you would have to have the artificial tree for ten years for it to be more environmentally friendly thana to be more environmentally friendly than a real one. the reality is,

thousands of artificial trees are thrown away every year. we are strong advocates for... do you have artificial trees in your house? no, my grandmother used to... used to come out every year! i'm sure you are extremely busy. thank you very much for coming in. this tree is very cute. but it is taking myspace. we have a lot more to fit in, stay with us, this is how to get in touch with us, this is how to get in touch with us. -- it is taking my space. insight and analysis from our team of editors right around the globe and we want to hear from you, get involved on the bbc business live web page at bbc.com/business. what

you need to know, when you need to know. trevor is back, real tree against fake tree, but first, this story in the business insider but elsewhere as well, new york city becoming the first us city to set a minimum wage for uber and lyft drivers, fantastic four the drivers, significant change in this disruptive industry. you can kind of understand, often you get new industries coming in, disrupting in industry. -- fantastic for the driver. the big question with uber, is ita driver. the big question with uber, is it a tech company or a car company, a driver company, what the new yorker is doing is saying it is a driver company new yorker is doing is saying it is a drivercompany and new yorker is doing is saying it is a driver company and taxi driver should have minimum wage. this will affect prices. i should imagine it will, in the wings somewhere, driverless cars, so maybe minimum

wage for uber drivers but in ten years' time, you won't have uber drivers, things are changing. what is good enough for the driver in york is surely good enough for the driver in london. —— in new york. the christmas tree we had on the deskis the christmas tree we had on the desk is gone, you can be our christmas decoration, talking about plastic or real trees, the question we have asked at home, whether or not they believe plastic or real is better for the environment, of course, the caveat is not everyone celebrates christmas and has christmas trees but if you do, what do you prefer. so many tweets, landon says, i do fake generally but my girlfriend and i are considering a real tree just for the scent and tradition. recycle it as green waste, and i do not have to store it in the loft for ten months. we use a

real tree, the thing about the origins of christmas trees, bringing evergreen origins of christmas trees, bringing evergreen things in, it is pre—christian, it is pagan, bringing something alive all year round into the house in the dead of winter, it is nice to have a real tree. the fa ke is nice to have a real tree. the fake ones look really real, but they have 3d pines. you just plug them in. for many people it is not environment, it is cost, how many real trees do i have to buy, to match the cost of a good fake tree. a good one, a couple of hundred pounds, $400. in the uk, at least, real trees do cost a lot, maybe $80 for a six foot tree. thinking about it, does not make —— take long to make up the cost. we have a real tree but i have a black labrador and a very excitable cat... the issue is keeping it upright and keeping the

baubles intact. any advice, i would appreciate it. i have a dog but he is too old. we have a fake one, says zara, we will use it, i have had friends who have had their trees for 25 years plus, so, lesser of two evils. the argument is if you use the plastic tree for years and yea rs, the plastic tree for years and years, then environmentally, that is fine, that is better. thank you so much for being with us, brilliant to have you with us on business live, thank you for your contributions, we love to hear your comments, if you wa nt to love to hear your comments, if you want to see what everyone has been saying about real trees or fake trees, get in touch. more business news to come throughout the day. for now, thank you for watching, goodbye. good morning, coldest night of the

autumn and winterso good morning, coldest night of the autumn and winter so far in northern scotland, temperatures down to minus nine celsius, elsewhere, as you can see from the satellite imagery, lots of cloud, it has not been anywhere near as cold, all the cloud is associated with the weather system, bringing outbreaks of rain gradually moving east through the course of today. watch out for ice through the morning, across central and southern parts of scotland, as the rain moves m, parts of scotland, as the rain moves in, snow for higher ground as well, pretty wet day for many parts of england and wales, rain clearing away from northern ireland, and later, rain will not reach the final for scotland, it will be dry and sunny into the afternoon. still quite chilly, a bit milder elsewhere, ten or 11 degrees. that rain will clear away, and then a few clear breaks, clear skies, generally speaking quite cloudy, showers

moving into western scotland, nowhere near as cold as last night in northern scotland, temperatures above freezing, nine to 11 degrees for england and wales. into thursday, the air, the weather pattern, still coming in, from the we st pattern, still coming in, from the west and south—west, from that fairly turbulent atlantic, bringing in milder conditions across the uk, throughout thursday, the oranges there are quite a while there widely across the uk. showery outbreaks of rain moving their way through, heavy rain moving their way through, heavy rain into the afternoon across wales and south—western parts of england. further east, if you break to give sunshine especially to the north—east of scotland, much milder day, temperatures ten to 15 degrees. way above the average for the time of year. into thursday, low pressure with us, isobars with us, windy day, more rain moving through. much of the rain should clear away through the rain should clear away through the morning, where to start to the

day, showers will continue around the far north of scotland. some snow over the higher ground, windy day expected, especially during the morning. these are the wind gusts, 30 to 40 mph, around the irish sea coasts, we can see 30 to 40 mph, around the irish sea coasts, we can see the wind as high as 70 mph, causing disruption. temperature wise, into the afternoon, coming down, afternoon temperatures, seven to 10 degrees. becoming chilly. well worth staying tuned to the forecast for friday. you're watching bbc news at 9:00 with me annita mcveigh — the headlines: the government will this morning publish the full legal advice it was given on theresa may's brexit plan after it was found to be in contempt of parliament during a bruising session in the commons yesterday. british academic matthew hedges, who was accused of spying and held in solitary confinement in the united arab emirates for nearly six months, gives his first broadcast interview

since being freed. one of the days when i had tried to tell the truth to the interrogators, their reaction was to make me stand for the day wearing ankle cuffs. all day? yes. the home office is accused of failing to heed repeated warnings about the negative affects its immigration