Bayer in talks to sell diabetes device unit: paper

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany's largest drugmaker Bayer AG is in talks to sell its blood glucose meters business, Financial Times Deutschland reported, citing industry and financial sources.

The paper said on Wednesday Bayer had mandated Credit Suisse to handle the sale. It said parties interested in the business included France's Sanofi and Japan's Panasonic.

A spokeswoman for electronics group Panasonic denied it was looking at the business. Sanofi, Bayer and Credit Suisse were not immediately available for comment.

Sources had told Reuters in May that Bayer was considering the sale of the unit, which has annual sales of about 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion), as it offers few synergies with its other healthcare activities.

($1 = 0.8275 euros)

(Reporting by Maria Sheahan; Additional reporting by James Topham in Tokyo, Alexandre Boksenbaum-Granier in Paris and Edward Taylor in Frankfurt; Editing by David Holmes)