Becton, Dickinson and Company completes Waters spin‑off, pivots to focused pure‑play medtech

BD completes spin-off with Waters, pivots to pure‑play medtech strategy

Franklin Lakes, N.J. — Becton, Dickinson and Company completes the previously announced spin‑off of its Biosciences & Diagnostic Solutions business and combines that unit with Waters Corporation, a move the company says completes its transformation into a focused medtech operator. BD receives about $4.0 billion in cash from the transaction and says it will “fully pivot to New BD,” intensifying commercial capabilities, accelerating innovation and applying its “BD Excellence” program to drive productivity and gross‑margin expansion.

Management frames the deal as the culmination of BD’s multi‑year BD 2025 strategy to divest non‑core assets and reshape the company around high‑recurring consumables and connected devices. CEO Tom Polen emphasizes opportunities from smarter connected devices, artificial intelligence, and the shift of care into outpatient and home settings, saying the company is positioned to strengthen commercialization and deliver durable revenue and cash‑flow growth. BD also affirms fiscal 2026 revenue guidance and provides adjusted diluted EPS guidance for the refocused New BD, noting first‑quarter results that include $5.3 billion in revenue and adjusted diluted EPS of $2.91.

The company outlines near‑term capital deployment of the transaction proceeds, planning to allocate roughly $2.0 billion to an accelerated share repurchase and $2.0 billion to repay debt, steps it says will be executed subject to market conditions. BD’s leadership highlights the strategic rationale for the split: a leaner balance sheet, sharper operational focus on medtech franchises and a recurring consumables model that underpins future cash generation and investment in product development.

Operational moves and product development

BD continues to advance product and commercial initiatives for the New BD. The company announces a $110 million investment to build BD Neopak glass prefillable syringe capacity in Columbus, Nebraska to support biologic and GLP‑1 drug delivery and U.S. pharmaceutical reshoring. It also expands a partnership with Ypsomed on a 5.5 mL Neopak XtraFlow syringe and gains FDA 510(k) clearance for the EnCor EnCompass breast biopsy and tissue removal system. Other initiatives include a Medical Essentials collaboration to pair BD HD Check rapid point‑of‑care testing with ChemoGLO LC‑MS/MS analysis and the first U.S. hospital implementation of BD Alaris EMR infusion interoperability with MEDITECH.

Liability management steps

Separately, BD launches a series of cash tender offers covering multiple outstanding note series with an aggregate offer cap of $1.6 billion as part of its liability‑management efforts. The moves, which specify priority levels and early‑tender payments for eligible series, reflect management’s intent to optimize capital structure and preserve financial flexibility following the Waters combination.