Siemens to acquire the diagnostics unit of Bayer

German engineering giants Siemens has said in a statement that they are acquiring the diagnostics unit of drug and chemical firm Bayer for $5.3 billion.

This would help them expand their medical businesses. This would be Siemens’s second major purchase in the medical division in two months.

The deal would make them the world’s second-largest player in immunodiagnostics.

Bayer would benefit from this deal as they would be able to raise the funds needed for their own acquisition of rival German drug maker Schering. That deal is worth a massive USD 22 billion.

Siemens said in a statement on this new development: “For the first time in the healthcare industry, an integrated diagnostics company is being created by combining the entire imaging diagnostics, laboratory diagnostics and clinical [information technology] value chain under one roof.”