(Reuters) -Activist investor Starboard Value has taken a stake in Becton Dickinson and is pushing the medical technology company to sell its life sciences unit, the Financial Times reported on Monday.
Shares of the company were up nearly 3% in premarket trading.
Starboard has met with the company’s management and sent a letter to the board regarding the matter, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Starboard Value and Becton Dickinson did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comments.
The size of Starboard’s stake in the firm is unclear, the report added.
Becton shares gained about 4% in the twelve months ended Jan. 31, compared with a near 25% rise in the S&P 500.
The life sciences unit, which makes diagnostic and research tools, generated sales of $5.12 billion in fiscal year 2024, making up over a quarter of the company’s total revenue.
(Reporting by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza and Vijay Kishore)
Comments