EU Officially Approves Illumina's Proposal to Sell Cancer Test Maker Grail
EU antitrust authorities have given US gene sequencing giant Illumina permission to dispose itself of Grail, a manufacturer of cancer diagnostic tests. Although the process has not been finished, the firm and the European Commission have reached an agreement over divestment alternatives. In order to penetrate the cancer early detection business, Illumina formed Grail in 2016, spun it off in 2016, and then repurchased it in 2021 for $7.1 billion. The company was fined and had to sell Grail after the EU's competition regulator ordered it to maintain Grail apart from Illumina. The agreement was blocked by the EU authority in 2022 on the grounds that it would limit options and hinder innovation in the developing market for blood-based early cancer detection tests. The precise conditions of Illumina's divestment of Grail will be negotiated and finalised by the second quarter of 2024. With the help of the divestiture plan, Illumina can decide whether to sell its shares through a trade sale or a capital markets transaction. Carl Icahn, an activist investor, is against the company and the agreement.
