Top EU court sides with U.S. biotech group Illumina in Grail legal battle

Investing.com -- Shares in U.S. gene sequencing group Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN ) edged slightly higher in premarket U.S. trading on Tuesday after the European Union's top court ruled against an EU Commission decision to probe its $7.1 billion acquisition of cancer screening maker Grail.

The European Commission and Illumina have been in a longstanding legal fight over the deal. The Commission moved to assess the bid despite the merger's revenue being under the EU's requirements and Grail not having a presence in the bloc.

However, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that the Commission is "not authorised to encourage or accept referrals of proposed concentrations without a European dimension from national competition authorities where those authorities are not competent to examine those proposed concentrations under their own national law."

The CJEU's decision trumps the Commission's prior ruling and cannot be appealed.

It marked a victory for California-based Illumina, who was previously forced to spin off Grail in June to follow EU orders. Illumina said the ruling also means that the company does not have to pay back a 432 million euro fine levied by the EU for closing its purchase of Grail in 2021 without its approval.

In a statement cited by Reuters, the Commission said it would consider "the next steps to ensure that the Commission is able to review those few cases where a deal would have an impact in Europe but does not otherwise meet the EU notification thresholds."

Source: Investing.com