Stock Alert: Illumina Tumbles 8% After Grail Acquisition News

(RTTNews) - Shares of Illumina Inc. (ILMN) are falling more than 8 percent or $24.51 in Monday's morning trade at $270.99 after the maker of gene sequencing technology announced its planned acquisition of Grail.

Illumina will acquire Grail, a healthcare company focused on multi-cancer early detection, for $8 billion in cash and stock, the two companies said Monday. In addition, Grail stockholders will receive future payments representing a tiered single digit percentage of certain Grail-related revenues.

The agreement has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies. Illumina expects to close the transaction in the second half of 2021.

Grail was founded by Illumina in 2016 and was spun out as a standalone company. Illumina currently holds 14.5 percent of Grail's shares outstanding, and about 12 percent on a fully diluted basis.

Illumina has traded in a range of $196.78 to $404.20 in the past 52 weeks.