Abbott Buys BASF's Knoll Drug Unit

(Updated from 1:40 p.m. Thursday)

Sold! Or, rather: "Verkauft!"

German chemical company BASF(BF Quote) sold its Knoll drug unit to Abbott Laboratories(ABT Quote) for $6.9 billion in cash.

This move gets BASF out of the drug business, allowing it to focus on the chemical business. Abbott now digs deeper into the pharmaceutical world, including the expansion of research and development of new drugs.

Abbott said it expects the acquisition to dilute earnings by 12 cents in 2001 and be accretive to earnings in subsequent years.

Reports last month indicated that BASF was looking to sell Knoll for about $6 billion, and it hired Wasserstein Perella to sell the business.

Eli Lilly(LLY Quote), Bristol-Myers Squibb(BMY Quote) and France's Sanofi-Synthelabo were also considered possible bidders for Knoll.