On February 27, Roche extended its unsolicited cash tender offer to acquire all outstanding shares of Illumina (see IBO 1/31/12, 2/15/12). According to Roche, 102,165 shares were tendered as of February 29. In response, Illumina stated: “The extension by Roche was expected. An extremely low number of shares have been tendered, consistent with our view—and that of our stockholders—that Roche’s offer does not reflect Illumina’s unique leadership position, business performance and future prospects.” In its quarterly conference call on February 7, Illumina presented a history of the company and an outline of its plan for the diagnostics market, noting that it doubled placements of the HiSeq system in the clinical market in 2011. The firm also said it will complete by mid-year its validation of three cancer diagnostic projects that could result in the submission of proprietary assays for FDA approval. The company also discussed two new sequencing chemistries it is developing: a long-read chemistry for use on both light-based and lightless detection systems and a single-molecule chemistry.

Meanwhile, on February 27, Roche filed with the SEC a presentation for Illumina shareholders, responding point by point to Illumina’s refusal of its offer. Roche also highlighted increased competition in the sequencing market, Illumina’s forecast for slower sales and EPS growth in 2012, the estimated price for Illumina stock absent Roche’s offer, and the rationale for its pricing of the offer.