Private equity firm Carlyle Group is reportedly in talks to acquire Baxter’s kidney care spinoff, Vantive, for more than $4 billion.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Carlyle Group and Baxter entered “exclusive negotiations” in late June to acquire the Vantive spinoff for $4 billion, including debt. Vantive is slated to become a standalone company in the second half of this year.
Baxter announced plans to spin off its renal care and acute therapies units in January 2023. CEO Joe Almeida said at the time that the spinoff and other strategic plans were “necessary to help deliver future performance and innovation.”
The plan to spin off Vantive into an independent, publicly traded company began to shift to an acquisition in March. Baxter disclosed in an SEC filing that it had been in recent discussions with private equity investors to sell the kidney care business in lieu of the spinoff.
When Vantive finally separates, Chris Toth, Baxter EVP and group president of kidney care, will serve as CEO of the new company. The company expects Vantive to carry forward its nearly 70-year legacy in kidney disease and organ support therapies. The company serves more than 1 million patients annually across over 70 countries.
Carlyle Group buys another medtech asset
Carlyle isn’t new to medtech investment. In October last year, the firm reportedly entered negotiations with Medtronic to acquire the medtech giant’s Patient Monitoring and Respiratory Interventions businesses.
In 2014, the group won a bidding war to acquire Johnson & Johnson’s Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics blood testing business for $4 billion. It eventually sold the business to Quidel for $6 billion last year.
The company also contributed to a $34 billion investment in Medline in 2021. Carlyle was an investor in One Medical, which sold to Amazon for nearly $4 billion last year.
