German drugs and chemicals maker Merck is planning to sell its allergy business, Allergopharma, Bloomberg reported, citing sources.
The sale, which could fetch about 600 million euros ($636.42 million), is an attempt by the company to offload its debt after the Sigma Aldrich Corp takeover.
The allergy business unit sale process, which could draw interest from drug companies and private-equity firms, is still at an early stage and the company could decide against it, Bloomberg said.
The company raised its full-year guidance for core earnings before one-offs, two weeks ago, to include the $17 billion acquisition of Sigma-Aldrich, which has cleared regulatory hurdles. Merck could not be reached immediately for a comment outside regular business hours.
