Johnson & Johnson is selling its clinical diagnostics division to private equity firm The Carlyle Group for $4.15 billion.

The healthcare giant has received a binding offer for the Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics (OCD) business and the deal is expected to close in the middle of the year. J&J said a year ago that it was looking to either spin off or sell the unit and speaking to investors last January, chief executive Alex Gorsky (pictured) said "what we see is a business with many very good technologies [which are not] in the number one or two position in its respective marketplace".

Now that the Carlyle offer has been accepted, he said that the transaction "is a result of our disciplined approach to portfolio management in order to achieve the greatest value for J&J".

Stephen Wise, Carlyle managing director, said OCD is "an established global brand with a reputation for quality and innovation". He added that "we have been focused on the diagnostics industry for many years given its attractive growth prospects [and] believe that OCD, with its world-class employee base and talented management team, is poised for the next level of success".

Headquartered in Raritan, New Jersey, with manufacturing operations in Rochester and Pompano Beach, (USA) and Pencoed (Wales), OCD operates in 130 countries. Working with clinical laboratories "and the transfusion medicine community around the world.", it provides "total solutions for early screening, diagnosing, monitoring and confirming diseases".