Fresenius and Smiths Group emerge final bidders for Pfizer's infusion pumps business

German healthcare supplier Fresenius and British engineering company Smiths Group have emerged as the final bidders for Pfizer's infusion pumps business, Reuters yesterday reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Goldman Sachs has been hired to advise on the sale that may fetch Pfizer around 1.5 billion.

Bloomberg had in January reported that the US drug giant was mulling to sell hospital products maker Hospira's infusion pump business for about $2 billion. (See: Pfizer explores sale of Hospira's infusion pump business for $2 bn)

The infusion pump business is part of Illinois-based Hospira, which Pfizer acquired last year for $17 billion.

Infusion pumps are computerised medical devices that deliver fluids, such as nutrients and medications, into a patient's body in controlled amounts.

Hamburg-based Fresenius, which also owns Fresenius Medical Care, is the world's largest dialysis company providing kidney dialysis and tube feeding equipment to hospitals.

Its main market for its infusion pumps is Europe, and a deal would offer a broader geographic reach, as the unit for sale has a strong foothold in North America, the report said.

Smiths Group, which in April acquired Safran's US-based Morpho Detection business for $710 million, is a diversified supplier of products and services for the threat & contraband detection, medical devices, energy and communications markets worldwide.