Illumina keeps pursuing buys, but remains willing to be acquired

Illumina ($ILMN) may have rebuffed M&A overtures from Roche ($RHHBY) at least three times now by our count. But CEO Jay Flatley insists he's not necessarily married to the idea of keeping the gene sequencing and diagnostics company independent. "We're certainly not wedded to that notion. We've said that openly," he told Xconomy in a recent interview. "This was a matter of having a fair price that we think puts an end to the upside our shareholders enjoy." Meanwhile, Flatley says, Illumina has become much more proactive about pursuing possible acquisitions, searching globally for "good licensing opportunities, or good companies that we think we ought to own." Story