Roche ends bid to buy diagnostics firm

BASEL, Switzerland — Roche has decided not to buy diagnostics firm Illumina, the drug maker said Wednesday.



Roche said it had decided not to extend its $51-per-share offer for Illumina following the reelection of Illumina's incumbent directors. Roche offered to buy Illumina for $44.50 per share in January, increasing the offer to $51 on March 29. The company took the offer directly to shareholders earlier this month after Illumina's board rejected it.



"We continue to hold Illumina and its management in very high regard, but, with access only to public information about Illumina's business and prospects, we do not believe that a price above Roche's offer for Illumina of $51 per share would be in the interest of Roche's shareholders," Roche CEO Severin Schwan said. "We have throughout this process desired to engage in a constructive dialogue with Illumina's management, listen to its views of value and prospects and offer a fair and adequate price for Illumina's shareholders. But in the absence of such discussions, our duty to be disciplined with the assets of Roche's shareholders has led to this decision."

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