Illumina Urges Shareholders To Reject Carl Icahn's ‘Harmful' Director Slate

By Chris Jennewein, Times of San Diego

May 2, 2023

Illumina on Monday urged its shareholders to reject corporate raider Carl Icahn‘s three board nominees, calling them “unqualified” in the genetic sequencing field and “potentially harmful” to the company’s business.

The San Diego-based genetics pioneer urged shareholders to to vote the “white proxy card for all nine of Illumina’s director nominees” at the May 25 annual meeting.

Icahn launched a proxy battle for the company in March, saying Illumina’s acquisition of cancer test maker Grail should be immediately reversed.

The former spinoff of Illumina offers the only commercially available multi-cancer early detection test, but the acquisition has faced legal challenges from U.S. and European antitrust regulators.

“Activist investor Carl Icahn has launched a self-serving and deliberately misleading campaign against our company, and we urge you to discard any gold proxy card you may have received from Icahn’s group,” Illumina’s board wrote in a letter to shareholders.

“Icahn’s nominees bring no additive skills, no relevant industry experience, and no independence from Icahn. Icahn’s nominees’ only unifying qualification appears to be their allegiance to Icahn,” the board wrote.

The letter said Illumnia sees Grail as a “a growth engine with unprecedented potential” and expects to conclude the legal challenges and either keep or divest Grail by early 2024.

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