Credit: REUTERS/MIKE BLAKESept 21 (Reuters) - Gene sequencing company Illumina Inc ILMN.O will pay $7.1 billion in cash and stock to buy cancer test startup Grail Inc, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Grail, which is developing a blood test to identify early-stage cancers, was founded by Illumina as a separate company in 2016 and is backed by Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O founder Jeff Bezos and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates.
The deal for Grail, in which Illumina is the biggest shareholder with a 14.6% stake, is expected to be announced on Monday, according to the report.
The company earlier this month filed for a U.S. initial public offering, without disclosing the offering size.
Grail owners excluding Illumina will get $3.1 billion in cash and shares in the gene-sequencer maker worth the remaining $4 billion, the report said.
Both Illumina and Grail did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.
Bloomberg News reported last week Illumina was nearing a deal for Grail.
(Reporting by Manojna Maddipatla in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
((manojna.kalyani@thomsonreuters.com; +91 8061822700;))
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