Illumina to Divest Grail Following Antitrust Legal Battles

The gene-sequencing company plans to finalize the divestiture by the end of Q2 2024, following a U.S. appeals court ruling and European Union orders.

Illumina, a leading gene-sequencing company, has announced it will divest Grail, a cancer diagnostic test maker, after facing legal battles with antitrust enforcers in the U.S. and Europe.
The decision follows a U.S. appeals court ruling that upheld the Federal Trade Commission's argument that the merger could violate antitrust laws.
The European Union had also ordered the deal to be unwound because it closed in 2021 without regulatory approval from the 27-nation bloc.
Illumina had previously pledged to divest Grail if it was not successful with either the European Court of Justice or in the Louisiana-based Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The divestiture will be executed through a third-party sale or a capital markets transaction, with a goal of finalizing the deal by the end of the second quarter of 2024.