Illumina, Roche deal
Roche began an unsolicited tender offer to acquire sequencing and microarray company Illumina for $44.50 per share, or about $5.7 billion in cash. The offer will expire at midnight EST on Feb. 24. The price is an 18% premium to Illumina's close of $37.69 on Jan. 24, before the offer was announced. Roche added that the offer is a 64% premium to Illumina's close of $27.17 on Dec. 21, before rumors surfaced of a potential takeout. Roche approached Illumina privately in December to negotiate a deal, but the pharma said Illumina was unwilling. Roche plans to nominate a slate of independent candidates for election to Illumina's board at the biotech's 2012 annual meeting, which has yet to be scheduled. Illumina closed Friday at $51.69.
Roche said the acquisition would strengthen its position in sequencing and microarrays to meet the growing demand for genetic and genomics solutions. Roche added that its global infrastructure and sales force would expand Illumina's products to the broader life science and diagnostics market. The pharma would combine Illumina with its Applied Science business. Illumina recorded revenue of $756.9 million for the first nine months of 2011. ...