RTTNews | Aug 20, 2021 07:45AM EDT

07:45 Friday, August 20, 2021 (RTTNews.com) - The European Commission said it deeply regrets Illumina's decision to complete its acquisition of GRAIL, while the investigation into the deal is still ongoing. As a result, the Commission has decided to immediately start an investigation to assess whether Illumina's decision constitutes a breach of standstill obligation. The Commission noted that the latest investigation is separate from its in-depth investigation announced last month.

On Aug 18, 2021, Illumina announced the company has acquired GRAIL for a cash and stock consideration of $8 billion. GRAIL shareholders will also receive future payments representing a tiered single digit percentage of certain GRAIL-related revenues. While making the announcement, Illumina noted that it will hold GRAIL as a separate company during the European Commission's regulatory review. Illumina stated that GRAIL has no business in the EU, and the company believes that the European Commission does not have jurisdiction to review the merger.

Illumina formed GRAIL and spun it out in 2016. GRAIL's first employees still owns 12 percent of Illumina. GRAIL's Galleri blood test detects 50 different cancers before they are symptomatic.

On 19 April 2021, the Commission accepted the requests submitted by Belgium, France, Greece, Iceland, the Netherlands, and Norway to assess the proposed acquisition. The Commission had opened an in-depth investigation on 22 July 2021.

Read the original article on RTTNews ( https://www.rttnews.com/3220185/european-commission-to-assess-illumina-s-possible-breach-of-standstill-obligation.aspx)

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