Illumina said on Sunday that it could divest cancer diagnostic test maker Grail after the businesses battled each US and European antitrust enforcers for greater than two years and faced fierce opposition from activist investor Carl Icahn.
The divestiture can be executed through a third-party sale or capital markets transaction, San Diego-based Illumina said in an announcement, adding that it could finalize the terms by second quarter of 2024.
Grail, valued at $7.1 billion under Illumina’s deal, is in search of to market a blood test that may diagnose many sorts of cancer, often called a liquid biopsy.
The move follows a ruling by the US appeals court on Friday that struck down a Federal Trade Commission order against Illumina’s purchase of Grail, a former subsidiary.
The court said the agency had applied a fallacious legal standard.
The FTC was concerned that Illumina, the dominant provider of DNA sequencing of tumors and cancer cells that help match patients with treatments almost definitely to profit them, might raise prices or refuse to sell to Grail’s test rivals.
Illumina’s acquisition of Grail got here under pressure from investors. REUTERS
Europe had proposed measures for Illumina to unwind its acquisition of Grail. Illumina argued that it does no business in Europe and due to this fact the EU competition enforcer has no jurisdiction.
Illumina’s acquisition of Grail also got here under pressure from investors, including billionaire Icahn, who led a successful board challenge in May.
Icahn in October sued Illumina, accusing the corporate of breaching its fiduciary duties within the Grail deal.
Neither Grail nor Icahn immediately responded to Reuters requests for comment.
