Roche presses on with takeover, despite further rejection by Illumina board

Swiss drug major Roche (ROG: SIX), admitting disappointment that the board of Illumina (Nasdaq: ILMN) has rejected its increased offer, is nevertheless pushing ahead with its hostile tender offer for the USA-based provider of integrated systems for DNA sequencing (The Pharma Letters January 25 and March 29).

In a second letter to Illumina shareholders revealed this morning, Roche is asking them to tender their shares into Roche’s recently increased offer of $51.0 a share (around $6.7 billion in total), up from the original $44.50 per share - or $5.7 billion - and vote for its independent director nominees and other proposals at the 2012 Illumina annual meeting on 18 April 2012.

Roche’s latest announcement came after Illumina had sent a third letter to its stockholders highlighting its tremendous growth prospects in the next generation sequencing market, as well as urging stockholders to reject Roche's efforts to buy Illumina at a grossly inadequate price, and reiterates the board's recommendation to vote for the election of Illumina's highly qualified director nominees at its 2012 annual meeting.