Illumina said Monday afternoon that its board of directors had approved a spinoff of its cancer test subsidiary Grail, signaling that a nearly 4-year-long, $8 billion saga will finally draw to a close this month.
Shares in the newly independent Grail are expected to be distributed on June 24, Illumina said in a statement. Illumina will retain a 14.5% stake in the company, which will trade under the ticker $GRAL.
It’s the second time Illumina has spun off Grail, which initially began as a unit within the DNA sequencing giant in 2015. Illumina turned it into an independent company the following year but then agreed to reacquire it for $8 billion in September 2020.
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