Coming off last month's second rejected $62 billion bid to acquire agricultural biotech giant Monsanto, anonymous insights suggest Bayer AG might be mulling the sale of its $3 billion-plus radiology supplies business.

Monsanto’s board of directors turned down Bayer's bids because it considered them “incomplete and financially inadequate," but said it would still be willing to continue discussions with Bayer to assess whether a sufficient transaction could be achieved.

Since June 10, when Bayer's second offer was rejected, the negotiations have been at a standstill.
Although Bayer has stated it does not need to sell assets in order to make a competitive bid for Monsanto, insights disclosed to Reuters by anonymous sources may suggest the company might be willing to part with its radiology business.

The company is in talks with investment banks about hiring a financial adviser to explore strategic alternatives for the radiology supplies business, including a sale, according to the sources. Bayer may decide to keep the unit, they added.

Bayer’s radiology business generates over $1.7 billion in revenue from contrast agents and injection equipment. Its most popular products are its Gadavist injection for MR scans and its Ultravist for CT — each of which brought in over $300 million last year.

In recent years, Bayer has been selling off parts of its health care business to focus more on its prescription drugs and consumer care products. It sold its vascular catheters business to Boston Scientific in 2014 for $415 million and last year it sold its blood glucose meter business to Panasonic Healthcare Holdings for 1.02 billion euros.

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