China’s Sinocare in talks to buy J&J’s diabetes care units worth around $4 bn

Chinese medical company Sinocare Inc is in talks to buy Johnson & Johnson's (J&J) Animas Corp, Lifescan, and Calibra Medical, in a deal valuing the diabetes care units at around $4 billion.

Reuters had earlier this month reported that a consortium of Sinocare and China Jianyin Investment, owned by sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp, have hired Goldman Sachs to work on a possible deal with J&J worth up to $4 billion.

Responding to Reuters report, J&J said in a statement, ''The evaluation of potential strategic options for LifeScan Inc. and Calibra Medical Inc. is ongoing and we do not have an announcement regarding these businesses at this time.''

Hunan-based Sinocare today confirmed that it is in talks to buy Johnson & Johnson's diabetes care units, and added that it had not yet outlined the finer details of the agreement.

J&J had last year said that it is evaluating options for its diabetes care units that make glucose meters, insulin pumps and other diabetes equipments.

In October last year, Animas Corp, which makes insulin pumps, said it would close its business in North America due to increased competition and after failing to find a buyer.

George Lin, chief financial officer of Hua Medicine, a diabetes-focused drug developer, had told Reuters that according to the most recent market research there were more than 110 million diabetes patients in China alone. ''The market right now in the world is already close to $50 billion,'' he said, referring to diabetes drugs.

''In China, it is expected to grow from $6.6 billion in 2016 to $20 billion by 2025. This is a very large, fast-growing market,'' he added.

Shenzhen-listed Sinocare develops and manufactures blood sugar monitoring systems, and has a market cap of around $1.8 billion.