Illumina implements 'poison pill' with regard to Roche bid

Responding to Swiss drug major Roche’s (ROG: SIX) hostile takeover over offer of $44.50 per share for US DNA sequencing firm Illumina (Nasdaq: ILMN) the latter has agreed to review the proposal valuing the company at around $5.7 billion and come up with recommendations to shareholders in due course (The Pharma Letter January 25).

However, Illumina also said that it has adopted a shareholder rights agreement – or “poison pill, designed to deter coercive or otherwise unfair takeover tactics, under which should a bidder become the owner of 15% or more of its stock, other shareholders would be able to exercise the rights to buy new common stock, diluting the stake of the prospective bidder.

Fair value, says Roche