Roche disappointed with ISS recommendation

Roche (

) released the following statement in response to a report issued by Institutional Shareholder Services recommending that shareholders of Illumina

vote against the election of Roche's independent director nominees to Illumina's Board of Directors: “While we are disappointed that ISS has recommended that Illumina shareholders vote against our director nominees at the Illumina annual meeting, we are pleased that ISS noted that ‘Roche would seem to be an excellent partner for Illumina as the sequencing industry grows more intertwined with new drug development.' ISS also noted that the key to Illumina's valuation falls in its commercialization strategy – a strategy that has not been tested but is an area in which we believe Roche could provide significant expertise,” said Severin Schwan, CEO of Roche Group. Schwan continued, “We respectfully challenge ISS' assertion that our current ‘bid does not provide a compelling starting point for negotiations.' Our goal has always been to enter into a negotiated transaction with Illumina and we firmly believe that our present offer is more than adequate to serve as a basis for negotiation with Illumina. We remain willing to consider additional value if given the opportunity to enter discussions and perform due diligence. We expect that Illumina shareholders will support this objective and vote for our director nominees at the upcoming Illumina annual meeting.”