Updated: Illumina Presses Ahead With Grail Merger Despite Antitrust Regulators' Opposition

[Update: On 20 August, the European Commission announced that it has opened an investigation to assess whether Illumina's decision to complete the acquisition of Grail while the EC was still investigating it constitutes a breach of the “standstill obligation” under Article 7 of the EU's Merger Regulation. "We deeply regret Illumina's decision to complete its acquisition of Grail while our investigation into the transaction is still ongoing," the EC's executive VP for competition Margrethe Vestager said. "Companies have to respect our competition rules and procedures. Under our ex-ante merger control regime companies must wait for our approval before a transaction can go ahead."]

Illumina closed its planned $8bn acquisition of Grail Inc. even as antitrust regulators in the US government and European Commission (EC) plan to oppose the merger in court.