Olympus continues medtech’s divestmania

Healthcare companies streamlining their businesses through divestments has been the most obvious trend of 2022, and the latest group following the craze is Olympus. The group is to sell its microscopy division, Evident, to Bain Capital for ¥427.6bn ($3.1bn) – its biggest ever divestment. Evident is not strictly medtech. The microscopes it makes are used for academic and clinical research, including drug discovery, as well as production of semiconductors and electronic components for the automotive and aviation sectors, among others. The move is part of Olympus’s plan to become a pure-play medtech group – it sold its digital camera business at the start of last year, and has since divested its regenerative medicine and IT units. The other aspect of the refocusing is acquisitions, Olympus told Evaluate Vantage in 2020, but the group has not been hugely active here, its largest acquisition for more than a decade being that of the interventional pulmonology specialist Veran Medical Technologies for $340m in late 2020. Perhaps after it shifts Evident, Olympus will be freer to do more meaningful deals.