Sinocare partners Citic unit to bid for Bayer's diabetes business

Hong Kong

SINOCARE INC, a Chinese maker of blood sugar monitors, teamed with an arm of the country's largest brokerage to enter the bidding for Bayer AG's diabetes devices business, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Sinocare made an offer of about US$1 billion with Citic Securities Co's direct investment unit Goldstone Investment Co, the sources said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. It has reached out to Chinese banks to seek financing for a potential deal, one of the sources said.