Commission overreached on cancer merger, says court adviser

Advocate general suggests power of EU to block global corporate takeovers should be curtailed

An adviser to the EU’s top court has suggested the European Commission overstepped in blocking the move by US-headquartered genomics sequencing giant Illumina to acquire Grail, a smaller US-based firm developing blood-based cancer tests.

Although his advice is not binding on the court, it is likely to lead to a decision that could curtail the future ability of the EU to intervene in merger cases involving entities based outside the bloc.