Reuters: Deals: Roche urges Illumina investors to push for bid talks

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Roche urges Illumina investors to push for bid talks Apr 3rd 2012, 11:05 Tweet Share this Email Print Related News Avon rejects $10 billion takeover bid from Coty Mon, Apr 2 2012 Illumina board rejects sweetened Roche offer Mon, Apr 2 2012 Swiss stocks - Factors to watch on April 2 Mon, Apr 2 2012 Roche to file T-DM1 breast cancer drug on good data Fri, Mar 30 2012 Deals of the day -- mergers and acquisitions Thu, Mar 29 2012 Analysis & Opinion Goldman Sachs now treats shareholders like muppets Related Topics Deals » Global Deals Review: 2011 Q3 » Global Deals Review: 2011 Q2 » Global Deals Review » Inflows Outflows » Roche CEO Severin Schwan speaks to media during the annual news conference in Basel February 1, 2012. Credit: Reuters/Ruben Sprich ZURICH | Tue Apr 3, 2012 7:05am EDT ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss drugmaker Roche (ROG.VX) urged Illumina (ILMN.O) shareholders to put pressure on the U.S. gene sequencing firm to enter takeover talks after its management rejected an improved $6.7 billion bid from Roche on Monday. "Roche`s increased offer is highly attractive," Roche chief executive Severin Schwan said on Tuesday. "By not engaging with Roche, Illumina reinforces the notion that its board and management are determined to preserve their positions rather than maximize shareholder value." Schwan said he hoped Illumina shareholders would "see the substantial value in our increased offer" and vote in favor of directors friendly to its overtures at an annual meeting on April 18. On Monday, Illumina's board unanimously rejected Roche's higher offer of $51 per share, saying it dramatically undervalued the company. Illumina is being pursued by Roche for its equipment that decodes a person's entire genome, which would give the Swiss firm a leading position in the promising market for gene sequencing. Illumina is seen by analysts as a sensible fit with Roche's sizable diagnostics business. Illumina shares closed at $51.37 on Monday, indicating that some investors expect Roche to raise its bid again. A source familiar with the situation last week told Reuters that Roche could further increase its bid if it found more value in the business during the due diligence process. "For the Illumina board to save face they have to get a price better than $51," per share, Bank Vontobel analyst Andrew Weiss said. Also on Monday, Illumina projected first-quarter revenue well above consensus estimates, and said it expects profit to meet or exceed market expectations. Roche shares were little changed on Tuesday, trading 0.1 percent firmer at 161.10 Swiss francs compared to a 0.3 percent firmer European drugs sector .SXDP. (Reporting by Katharina Bart and Martin de Sa'Pinto; Editing by Mark Potter) Global Deals Review: 2011 Q3 Global Deals Review: 2011 Q2 Related Quotes and News Company Price Related News Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above.

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