Roche won’t up Illumina bid price
Swiss drugmaker Roche extended its $5.7bn (£3.5bn) hostile bid for Illumina in a widely expected move as it seeks to boost its position in the gene sequencing market.
But analysts say Roche, which has a history of success with such hostile deals, may ultimately have to raise its $44.50 per share bid to around $60 to win Illumina.
Illumina has already adopted a “poison pill” defence strategy for Roche’s unsolicited bid, and has advised shareholders not to tender any of their shares on the grounds the price was too low.
“The extension by Roche was expected,” Illumina said. “An extremely low number of shares have been tendered, consistent with our view – and that of our stockholders – that Roche’s offer does not reflect Illumina’s unique leadership position, business performance and future prospects.”
Only about 0.1 per cent of Illumina’s shares outstanding have so far been tendered to Roche, the Basel-based firm said.
Illumina, based in San Diego, makes machines that decode a person’s entire genome, going far beyond simple genetic tests that are already used in diseases such as cancer to test for a handful of gene variations.
A deal would give Basel-based Roche’s diagnostics unit a leading position in the market for gene sequencing, which can help better identify which patients benefit from a given drug.
Earlier acquisitions such as that of diagnostic test-maker Ventana and U.S. biotech group Genentech show Roche is happy to take its time with deals and that it will ultimately prevail with a sweetened offer.
Roche took seven months to buy Ventana for $3.4bn in 2008, when chief executive Severin Schwan was head of its diagnostics unit. It first made an unsolicited, low-end bid before increasing its original offer by 19 per cent.
The offer for Illumina had been due to expire on 24 February and Roche said all other terms for the offer remained the same.