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Carl Icahn plans to nominate three directors for Illumina’s (NASDAQ:ILMN), arguing that the biotech company has gone ahead with its planned purchase of Grail Inc. even as regulators try to block it.
the billionaire activist, who tried to reach an agreement with Illumina (ILMN) to avoid a power struggle, plans to nominate Vincent Intrieri, founder and CEO of a mutual fund and two of Icahn’s aides, Jesse Lynn and Andrew Teno, according to a wsj report, which cited a copy of the letter Icahn plans to send to the Illumina board on Monday.
Icahn is said to say that Illumina (ILMN), the gene sequencing company, is paying much more for Grail and went ahead with its acquisition, even when he didn’t know if European regulators would approve it.
In December, the European Commission ordered Illumina (ILMN) to divest Grail three months after the EU vetoed the $7.1 billion acquisition on antitrust grounds and concerns about the impact on innovation.
Illumina (ILMN) tried last month to persuade top EU and national antitrust officials in a closed-door hearing against an order to sell its 2021 acquisition of cancer test maker GRAIL.
