FTC Orders Illumina To Divest Grail, Mounts Pressure On Company Amid Proxy Fight With Icahn

  • The Fed­er­al Trade Com­mis­sion has or­dered Il­lu­mi­na Inc ILMN to di­vest Grail Inc, saying that the deal would stifle competition and innovation in the U.S. market for cancer tests.
  • Billionaire activist Carl Icahn is preparing a proxy fight at Illumina, saying the company went ahead with the controversial acquisition of Grail Inc despite opposition from regulators, costing shareholders $50 billion.
  • The Commission found that the acquisition would diminish innovation in the U.S. market for multi-cancer early detection (MCED) tests while increasing prices and decreasing the choice and quality of tests. 
  • Related: What's The Similarity Between Disney And Illumina? Billionaire Activist Investor Wanted Retired CEO To Come Back
  • Il­lu­mi­na will ap­peal the FTC's de­ci­sion and seeks to ar­rive at a res­o­lu­tion by late 2023 or ear­ly 2024, the com­pa­ny said in a state­ment. 
  • “Win­ning both ap­peals would max­i­mize val­ue for share­hold­ers. It en­ables Il­lu­mi­na to ex­pand the avail­abil­i­ty, af­ford­abil­i­ty and prof­itabil­i­ty of the ground­break­ing Gal­leri test in the $44-plus bil­lion mul­ti-can­cer screen­ing mar­ket. It al­so pro­tects Il­lu­mi­na's abil­i­ty to op­ti­mize a fu­ture di­ves­ture should that be in the best in­ter­est of share­hold­ers," Il­lu­mi­na said in the state­ment.
  • The FTC or­der fol­lows a 4-0 vote from its com­mis­sion.
  • Price Action: ILMN shares are down 2.52% at $226.70 on the last check Monday.
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