Illumina Slammed with Fine for $8bn Aquisition of GRAIL

The planned $8 billion reaquisition of Grail by Illumina was finalised in August 2021, following just a number of weeks after the commission began looking into the deal.

The deal was then halted in September 2022 because it was believed to have severe anticompetitive implications, would inhibit innovation, and would limit options in the newly developing market for diagnostic cancer blood tests.

According to the commission, “Illumina strategically weighed up the risk of a gun-jumping fine against the risk of having to pay a high break-up fee if it failed to takeover GRAIL. It also considered the potential profits it could obtain by” going ahead.

Illumina were subsequently hit with the greatest possible penalty, amounting to 10% of their annual sales (of $476), the commission did this with the purpose of “deterring such conduct.”

However, the biotech company promised to contest the decision. Global PR Lead, David McAlpine, said that the company “closed the transaction in 2021 because there was no impediment to closing in the US, and the timeframe would have expired before the [European Commission] could reach a decision on the merits.”

Following Illumina’s acquisition of Grail, 1.4% investor Carl Icahn spearheaded a fight for control that resulted in the resignation of Chair John Thompson in a couple of months ago. Shortly after, Chief Executive Officer Francis deSouza resigned from his position.

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