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GEN Poll

Mar 01, 2012

Roche’s Ploy for Illumina

KEYWORDS:
Illumina
,
M&A
,
Roche

Do you expect Roche to eventually win over Illumina and acquire the company?

Yes

67.4%

23.5%

Undecided

9.1%

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A day after Roche went public with its $5.7 billion offer for Illumina, on January 26, Illumina placed a poison pill shareholder rights plan in place. Roche responded by nominating a slate of directors for election to Ilumina’s board. On February 7, Illumina issued a formal rejection to Roche, characterizing the offer as “grossly inadequate.” On February 14, a group of Illumina shareholders filed a putative class action against Illumina alleging that its directors breached their fiduciary duties and did not get the best price. Roche has also told Illumina that sales may not expand as quickly as Illumina thinks. Additionally, Roche can certainly hang in for the long run when it goes after a company, as was the case with Ventana and Genentech. How do you think things will end?