AstraZeneca Dental Unit sale begins
The auction for AstraZeneca’s dental unit is underway.
AstraZeneca, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, is selling Astra Tech, the dental division, which is based in Sweden and also manufactures medical instruments, including catheters and breathing apparatus; the firm will now concentrate on the core medical division.
AstraZeneca has received bids from private equity companies, including British firms, Cinven and Bridgepoint and French company, PAI Partners; American firm Winburg Pincus and global trade buyer Zimmer Holdings have also bid for the Sweden-based division.
Last year AstraZeneca employed JP Morgan to oversee the sale of Astra Tech; JP Morgan conducted a review and the auction process is now underway. The second round of bids is expected to take place towards the end of April.
It is believed that some companies want to buy the dental division only, while others are interested in the medical instruments division. AstraZeneca is going in the opposite way of other leading pharmaceutical companies, including GlaxoSmithKline and narrowing its range of products; the company is selling non-core business divisions so that it can focus on core business.
The auction is expected to raise around 1.3 billion pounds.
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