European engineering conglomerate Smiths Medical confirmed late last week that it had received an offer for its medical division, refusing to divulge any other details of the "early stage" discussions.
Groups purporting to have inside information about the talks have reported that Smiths Group has taken steps to align Smiths Medical as a stand-alone entity and that it may sell for more than $2.62 billion (£2 billion).
Smiths Group admitted that it had received a "preliminary approach" for its medical business, but warned that the talks are at an early stage and may not lead to a deal.
The decision to sell the division hasn’t been finalized and there’s no set price as of yet, but Smiths Group is mulling a sale after solicitation from prospective buyers such as CareFusion (NYSE:CFN), according to a report from the Financial Times, which cites anonymous sources.
It’s not the 1st time that Smiths Medical has drawn the attention of buyers. In 2011 private equity group Apax offered to pick up the medtech division for about £2.45 billion, an offer that Smiths Group turned down.
Apax picked up Kinetic Concepts for $6.8 billion later that year.