Pfizer closed its $17 billion acquisition of Hospira just over a year ago, but is already offloading the infusion therapy business in a $1 billion deal. The deal will see ICU Medical picking up all of Hospira’s infusion offerings, including intravenous drugs and infusion pumps.
Pfizer started entertaining offers for the pumps and devices unit in May this year, saying at the time that it could reel in about $2 billion for the business. It initially acquired Hospira with eyes on its biosimilars and generic injectable drugs, but the devices that came with it don’t fit in with the pharma company’s established products business.
San Clemente, CA-based ICU Medical offers devices for use in areas such as critical care, oncology and infusion therapy. The acquisition will create a “pure-play infusion therapy company” with estimated combined revenues of $1.45 billion, according to a statement. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017.
“By acquiring the Hospira Infusion Systems business, currently our largest single customer, we create a pure-play infusion business with the focus and scale to compete globally, eliminate our single customer concentration issue, and have a significant value creation opportunity as a much larger company,” said ICU Medical CEO Vivek Jain in the statement.
Shortly after Pfizer started taking bids for Hospira, it announced it would shut four distribution sites in the U.S., laying off 104. The move came after the pharma suspended work at a plant in India and the June closure of a Hospira manufacturing plant in Colorado, at the cost of 100 jobs. In spite of these setbacks, Hospira helped Pfizer bump up its revenue 11% in the second quarter this year. Without Hospira, the pharma would have logged a 1% revenue increase.