Hello there, we’re back in action after yesterday’s UK Bank Holiday, which proved to be the hottest ever on record, reaching up to 28.7°c.

For those of you here who were sweltering in the heat over the long weekend, here’s a quick re-cap of the top news from the last few days, and some expected highlights from the week ahead.

We hope you like our daily round-up of the essential news. We’ve changed the name to Daily Brief to better reflect its global reach, regardless of which time zone you’re in.

 

Takeda seals $62 billion takeover of Shire

After nearly six weeks of public wooing of Shire and its shareholders, Takeda has sealed a £46bn ($62bn) deal to acquire the company.

The merger will create a company with revenues of $31 billion, making it one of the sector’s top 10 - but the size of the outlay and the rationale behind the deal has left many analysts cold.