LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Merck & Co Inc N:MRK is in the final stages of selling its consumer healthcare unit for close to $14 billion (8.32 billion pounds), with Bayer AG DE:BAYGN and Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc L:RB among final contenders to clinch a deal as soon as next week, people familiar with the matter said.
Germany's Bayer and British consumer products group Reckitt have emerged as frontrunners to win the auction after each offering roughly $13.5 billion for the Merck consumer unit, best known for Coppertone sunscreen and Claritin allergy medicine, the people said.
Both bidders are very keen to buy the asset and the price tag could go higher in the final days, one person added. All the people asked not to be named because the matter is not public.
Representatives for U.S. drugmaker Merck, as well as Bayer and Reckitt, declined to comment.
(Reporting by Anjuli Davies, Olivia Oran, Soyoung Kim, Martinne Geller and Ben Hirschler; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)