AstraZeneca close to selling dental implants unit to Dentsply for $1.8 billion: report

Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is close to finalising a deal to sell its dental implants and medical devices firm Astra Tech to Dentsply International Inc for about $1.8 billion, Reuters today reported citing a person familiar with the situation.

In the deal that is likely to announced this week, Dentsply beat bids from rival medtech groups and private equity firms to gain exclusivity to negotiate a deal, said the paper.

AstraZeneca's CFO, Simon Lowth had said in January that the company has decided to sell Astra Tech because it is not central to the company's strategy and had hired JP Morgan Chase & Co to look for potential buyers. The London-based company was looking at a $2 billion price tag for Astra Tech.

Dentsply outbid private-equity firm EQT Partners AB and medical instruments maker Biomet Inc, both of whom were bidding for the whole of Astra Tech, and Bridgepoint Capital Ltd, which bid for only the dental division.

Straumann and Nobel Biocare had pulled out of the bidding process before tabling binding bids, Reuters had reported earlier this month.

Moelndal, Sweden-based Astra Tech, which last year posted revenues of $535 million, is the world's third-largest dental implants maker after Straumann and Nobel Biocare. Its separate medical devices arm specialises in urology and surgery.

With 2010 revenues of $2.2 billion, York, Pennsylvania-based Dentsply makes dental implants and prosthetics, as well as equipment and supplies used in dentistry.