Following three years of nonstop regulatory hassles, Illumina (NASDAQ: ILMN) finally gave up on GRAIL (NASDAQ: GRAL), leading to the successful completion of its spin-off yesterday. Following the announcement, shares of Illumina rose 1.5% at yesterday's close and also edged up 0.1% during the after-hour trading session. With the divestment now complete, GRAIL will start trading publicly on Nasdaq from Jun 25 under the ticker symbol "GRAL." Illumina will continue to operate its legacy business independently under the ticker symbol "ILMN" on Nasdaq. Financing and Distribution Details Post divestment, Illumina will maintain a minority share of 14.5% in GRAIL. The separation of businesses was achieved through the distribution of the remaining 85.5% of the outstanding shares of GRAIL to holders of Illumina common stock. In addition to retaining their shares of Illumina stock, ILMN shareholders received one share of GRAIL common stock for every six shares of Illumina stock held as of the close of business on the record date of Jun 13, 2024. GRAIL, as a new-age cancer research company, will continue to grow its business, leveraging Illumina's sequencing technology, end-to-end workflows and a suite of services. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research ILMN's GRAIL Battle at a Glance Illumina formed GRAIL in early 2016 and spun it out as a standalone company in the same year. In 2020, the company announced plans to reacquire GRAIL to merge their potential for early cancer detection and improve outcomes. In August 2021, Illumina forcefully closed the $7.1-billion GRAIL-acquisition deal before obtaining the EC's regulatory clearance. Since then, the acquisition has been subject to rigorous legal and regulatory proceedings both in the United States and the European Union. In December 2022, the European Union unveiled details of a planned ...