On November 1, 2018, Illumina, a provider of sequencing and array-based solutions for genetic analysis, and Pacific Biosciences, a leader in long-read sequencing and provider of high-quality genomes to advance scientific discovery, announced that they have signed an agreement under which Illumina will acquire Pacific Biosciences at a price of $8.00 per Pacific Biosciences share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $1.2 billion on a fully diluted basis. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is representing Pacific Biosciences in the transaction.
The acquisition complements Illumina sequencing solutions with accurate long-read sequencing capabilities to answer a set of complex genomic questions. While Illumina's accurate and economic short-read sequencing platforms address the majority of sequencing applications optimally, select applications, such as de novo sequencing and sequencing of highly homologous regions of genomes, are better addressed with accurate long-reads. With its acquisition of Pacific Biosciences, the company will be positioned to provide integrated workflows and novel innovations that bring together the best of both technologies to help researchers advance their discoveries faster and clinicians offer new tests economically.
The transaction has been approved by the board of directors of Illumina and Pacific Biosciences and is expected to close in mid-2019, subject to approval by the shareholders of Pacific Biosciences, as well as other customary closing conditions, including applicable regulatory approvals.
The Wilson Sonsini team representing Pacific Biosciences in the transaction includes:
M&A:
Marty Korman
Doug Schnell
Robert Ishii
Dennise Martinez
Corporate:
Donna Petkanics
Andrew Hoffman
Employee Benefits and Compensation:
Scott McCall
Jaqueline Tokuda
Matthew Norgard
Technology Transactions:
Ian Edvalson
Tax:
Myra Sutanto Shen
Real Estate:
James McCann
Martin Sul
Privacy and Data Protection:
Matthew Staples
Antitrust:
Michelle Hale
For more information, please see the companies' joint press release.