AstraZeneca Looking To Shed Astra Tech Unit

AstraZeneca has hired JPMorgan Chase & Co to help it sell Astra Tech, a Swedish unit that makes dental implants and medical devices, for about $2 billion, a source familiar with the situation said on Monday.

AstraZeneca and JPMorgan declined to comment.

AstraZeneca also is looking to unload a U.S. chain of outpatient cancer centers called Aptium Oncology, which would likely sell for less than $500 million, the source said.

Astra Tech, which also makes medical devices for urology and surgery, will be shopped around to other medical device companies and private equity firms, the source said.

The dental business could be of interest to companies such as privately held Biomet, Medtronic Inc and Dentsply International Inc, analysts said.

The medical device sector has seen an uptick in mergers this year as companies seek to diversify to offset sluggish sales in mature markets such as pacemakers and hip replacements.

The sector also faces pressure as consumers who lost private insurance coverage or faced skyrocketing deductibles simply stopped visiting the doctor.

The value of deals in the medical device industry in the first half of 2010 already surpassed the total for all of 2009, when the financial crisis and concerns over the impact of a new U.S. healthcare law gripped the market.

According to a recent Ernst & Young report, 89 deals valued at $16.9 billion were struck in the United States and Europe in the first half of 2010, compared with 172 transactions worth $15.7 billion in full-year 2009.

Recent deals in the medical device sector include orthopedic device maker Stryker Corp's plan to buy a unit of Boston Scientific Corp that makes devices to treat stroke, aneurysm and other vascular conditions for $1.5 billion, and St Jude Medical Inc's deal to pay $1 billion for AGA Medical Holdings Inc, whose devices treat structural heart defects.