Illumina’s $8 Billion Acquisition of GRAIL

On September 21, 2020, Illumina, Inc. (“Illumina”) and GRAIL announced they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Illumina will acquire GRAIL for cash and stock consideration of $8 billion. In addition, GRAIL shareholders will receive future payments representing a tiered single digit percentage of certain GRAIL-related revenues. GRAIL, a healthcare company focused on multi-cancer early detection, was founded by Illumina, a global leader in DNA sequencing and array-based technologies, in 2016 and spun out as a standalone company. Cravath is representing Illumina in connection with the transaction.

The Cravath team is led by partners Ting S. Chen and Faiza J. Saeed and includes associates Daniel J. Cerqueira, Matthew M. Kelly, Catriela Cohen, Joel B. Tay, Michelle Li, Daniel J. Etcovitch, Lauren R. Krakovyak and Courtney T. Seager on M&A matters; partner David J. Kappos, practice area attorney Anthony N. Magistrale and associates Somi A. Umolu and Rohan E. George on intellectual property matters; partner Christine A. Varney and senior attorney Jesse M. Weiss on antitrust matters; partner Eric W. Hilfers and associates Matthew J. Bobby, Anna Mikaelyan and Tiffany B. Wong on executive compensation and benefits matters; partner Stephen L. Gordon and associates Cecily Xi, Rebecca L. Fine and Kyle R. Jorstad on tax matters; partner Matthew Morreale on environmental matters; and practice area attorneys Brian M. Budnick and Laurel R. Berkowitz on real estate matters.