Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche today extended its hostile $5.7 billion (€4.2 billion) bid for US gene mapper Illumina by four weeks.
The group's previous offer ran until March 23, but it has so far only received shares worth about $6.4 million.
Roche claims that its offer is 64% higher than Illumina's closing price on December 21, 2011 - "the day before market rumours" of the bid sent the stock higher.
But Illumina, a provider of integrated systems for DNA sequencing, had opposed the hostile bid, saying it "does not reflect Illumina's unique leadership position, business performance and future prospects."
