NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Complete Genomics has again rejected Illumina's approach to acquire the firm.
Illumina aims to consummate a deal with Complete Genomics and scupper an agreement Complete Genomics already has signed to be acquired by BGI-Shenzhen for $3.15 per share.
Illumina didn't present a new offer to the firm, but last week Illumina CEO Jay Flatley sent a letter to Complete Genomics' board of directors urging them to reconsider the San Diego-based company's $3.30 per-share offer. Flatley said in his letter, among other things, that Illumina is confident the deal would receive US antitrust clearance and the offer "raises fewer regulatory concerns than the proposed BGI transaction."
BGI took exception to several of the claims in Flatley's letter, and yesterday Complete Genomics disclosed in a regulatory filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission a letter its board had received from BGI COO Ye Yin.
Illumina's proposal to buy Complete Genomics is "a thinly veiled attempt by Illumina to disrupt and interfere with our merger agreement in order to prevent Complete's technology from posing a competitive threat to Illumina's market dominance," Yin said in the letter.
Complete Genomics said in a filing today that its board of directors has "again unanimously concluded that Illumina's proposal remained inadequate, remained not in the best interests of the company's stockholders, and continued to not constitute a superior proposal, as defined in the merger agreement because … there is substantial likelihood that a proposed transaction between the company and Illumina would fail to receive antitrust clearance and is not reasonably capable of being consummated."