Sinocare bids for Bayer's Contour unit - Bloomberg

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Sinocare , a Chinese maker of blood-sugar monitors, has teamed up with Citic Securities to enter the bidding for Bayer´s (BAYGn.DE) diabetes devices business, Bloomberg reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

Sinocare has made an offer of around $1 billion (645 million pounds) with Goldstone Investment, the direct-investment unit of Citic Securities, China's largest brokerage, Bloomberg said.

A China spokesman for Bayer declined to give immediate comment on Wednesday. Reuters could not immediately reach Sinocare for comment.

Bayer is making a second attempt to sell the Contour blood glucose-meter business, which had annual sales of 722 million euros (528 million pounds) in 2013, as it overhauls its business to focus on margin-rich healthcare sectors.

KKR-backed (KKR.N) Panasonic Healthcare Holdings has been in talks with Bayer over the division, one source with direct knowledge told Reuters in February.

Bayer tried to find a buyer for the business in 2012 as the industry grappled with increased competition and reimbursement pressures due to tight public healthcare budgets but it failed to generate sufficient interest from potential suitors, sources said at the time.

(Reporting by Kirsti Knolle, Adam Jourdan and the Shanghai newsroom; Editing by Georgina Prodhan)