Icahn to investigate ‘massive value destruction’ by Illumina

In a new letter to Illumina shareholders, activist Carl Icahn wrote, "We realize that if Illumina’s directors all continue to adhere to the omerta surrounding the GRAIL transaction, shareholders may never know what truly motivated them to embark on their value destructive war with powerful antitrust regulators. However, there are certain facts regarding the disastrous decision to close over the vociferous objections of regulators that are objective and uncontestable, and which we believe represent a new low in corporate governance…Put simply, it appears that, on the day prior to closing the GRAIL deal, the directors required Illumina to commit to provide them with an unprecedented level of additional personal liability protection – and buried the news in the hopes that no one would notice…Not surprisingly, the board elected NOT to include certain other negative information (which was known to the board at the time) in the announcement regarding the decision to close the GRAIL deal over the objections of antitrust regulators…We intend to commence an immediate investigation into the massive value destruction caused by the reckless decision by Illumina’s board of directors to close the GRAIL acquisition over the objections of European antitrust regulators. We feel strongly that our three highly qualified nominees (none of whom has ever elected voluntarily to engage in a value destructive war with powerful antitrust regulators) are particularly suited because of their experience to help keep Illumina’s directors from painting themselves further into a corner. But more importantly, they will have the ability to attempt to convince the rest of the board to take immediate actions to stop the ‘toboggan slide’ appears Illumina is now on." Reference Link