EQT has enlisted the bankers at JPMorgan ($JPM) to handle the sale of BSN Medical, which could be worth more than €2 billion ($2.2 billion), Reuters reported. The Swedish buyout firm originally acquired BSN in 2012.
Unnamed sources familiar with the deal said that EQT is seeking to launch a "dual track process," which would allow it to sell or list BSN toward the end of the year according to market conditions, Reuters reported. Some U.S. private equity funds are already considering it, the sources said. BSN could sell for up to 10 times its core earnings of about €200 million, they said.
BSN Medical was founded in 2001 as a joint venture between Smith & Nephew ($SNN) and Hamburg, Germany's Beiersdorf. London's Montagu Private Equity bought BSN in 2006 for about €1 billion ($1.1 billion), and then sold it to EQT for €1.8 billion ($2 billion). While BSN was already operating globally, the Swedish firm planned to expand its presence in emerging markets, with a particular focus on Latin America and Asia.
BSN markets wound care, compression therapy and orthopedic products. These include plaster and synthetic casts, impregnated sterile dressings and wound bed products that address problems such as necrotic tissue and bacteria. It has manufacturing facilities in a number of countries, including Germany, Mexico and Pakistan, and employs more than 5,500 people worldwide.
The sale of BSN would mark EQT's second exit from a healthcare business, Reuters reported. Last month, EQT agreed to sell devicemaker Atos Medical to PAI Europe for €850 million.
- here's the Reuters story