Medtronic has enlisted advisers to prepare the sale of its medical supplies business, in whole or in parts, according to sources quoted by Bloomberg. A deal could bring in as much as $5 billion.
The company was said to be scouting prospective buyers, but whether the devicemaker will offload the business in one go or sell it off in multiple deals is still up in the air. The sources asked not to be identified as the matter is not public, Bloomberg reported.
The medical supplies unit posted $500 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, and people familiar with the matter said it would likely sell for eight to 10 times that amount, Bloomberg reported.
The unit in question markets a range of products, including catheters and monitoring equipment. Medtronic picked up a suite of hospital supplies in its 2015 acquisition of Covidien, its largest deal that propelled it to the top spot in the medical device arena.
Most recently, Medtronic has scored Medicare coverage for its Micra leadless pacemaker, teamed up with Fitbit to integrate activity data as well as continuous glucose monitor data in a mobile app and had its hybrid closed-loop “artificial pancreas” approved by the FDA.