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Diabetes device maker Embecta has hired advisers to explore a possible sale, following two years of lacklustre share price performance after the medical technology business was spun out of health tech giant Becton Dickinson.
Embecta, which is the world’s largest maker of disposable insulin pen needles and syringes for diabetics, tapped advisers from Centerview Partners in recent months to guide a possible sale of the business, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The medtech business, which sells about 8bn syringes and needle pens annually to more than 100 countries worldwide, could be an attractive takeover target for private equity because of its low market value and similar profile to other companies that have attracted recent buyout interest, two people added.
Last year, Advent International and Warburg Pincus bought injectable device manufacturer Simtra BioPharma Solutions for $4.25bn after it was spun out of healthcare conglomerate Baxter International. Baxter is also currently working on a spin-off or possible sale to private equity of its kidney care division Vantive.
Embecta’s share price is down nearly 70 per cent since it was spun out as a separate listed company from Becton Dickinson in April 2022. The Nasdaq-listed company was valued at $2.1bn, including debt, at market close on Friday.
Sales volumes at Embecta’s US business, which contributes about half the group’s revenue, have been hurt by the popularity of GLP-1 drugs, such as Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic, which have taken business away from conventional insulin treatments for type 2 diabetes.
The people briefed on the process said a sale was not guaranteed and Embecta could remain a listed company. Embecta did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Centerview declined to comment.
Devdatt Kurdikar, Embecta’s chief executive, told a Bank of America investor conference in May that Ozempic had led to “delay” in patients being prescribed insulin “but not an elimination”.
“Insulins have been around for 100 years,” said Kurdikar. “Mechanistically, we don’t see insulin going away because of GLP-1.”
Declining margins across the business as well as the length and cost of the full separation from Becton Dickinson have also weighed on the stock, according to analysts.
Embecta’s adjusted net income is projected to fall 23 per cent year on year to $132mn in the 12 months to the end of September this year, while annual revenues are projected to remain broadly flat at about $1.1bn, according to analyst consensus estimates.
Increasing rates of diabetes in the developing world, where insulin treatment is preferred to GLP-1s, and the possible approval by the US Food and Drug Administration of a new insulin patch pump, which can hold 300 doses of insulin at once, could spur growth at the company, Kurdikar has previously said.
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