The Financial Times reports today that BD
(NYSE: BDX)
began discussions with a handful of competitors for the sale of its Life Sciences business.
In February, the BD board unanimously authorized management to pursue the separation of its Life Sciences business. The company plans to separate its Biosciences and Diagnostic Solutions unit from the rest of BD. It hopes to enhance strategic focus and growth-oriented investments and capital allocation to improve value creation for shareholders.
The business brought in nearly $5.2 billion in 2024, contributing 25.7% of the medtech giant’s overall revenues for the year. The unit includes the company’s Integrated Diagnostic Solutions (IDS) and Biosciences (BDB) business nuts. IDS includes specimen management technologies, while BDB offers technologies like cell analyzer technology and cancer reagents. Specimen Management, which is part of the Life Sciences segment, is staying with New BD.
This separation would mark the second significant business sale by BD in recent years after it spun off Embecta, its diabetes unit. Following the separation, BD expects to become a pure-play medtech company with four new operating segments poised for growth. BD bolstered these offerings with the addition of Edwards’ Critical Care business last year as well.
According to FT, BD entered talks with Thermo Fisher and Danaher to discuss the potential sale of the business. The company is also considering a “Reverse Morris” trust tax-free deal, FT says. Waters, Qiagen and Revvity are all potential candidates for that type of deal, according to the report, which cited sources familiar with the matter.
