By Sophie Sassard and Anjuli Davies
LONDON (Reuters) - European buyout firm Cinven is sounding out prospective bidders for its specialty pharmaceuticals business Amdipharm Mercury Company (AMCo), in a deal that could value the asset at over 1.7 billion pounds ($2.59 billion), said sources familiar with the situation.
Cinven has yet to hire financial advisers and is expected to do so only once it has received sufficient interest for the business in order to launch a competitive auction process, likely seen in the second half of 2015 or 2016 said the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity as the matter is private.
Cinven declined to comment.