(Reuters) - ICU Medical Inc's <ICUI.O> new offer to buy British engineering firm Smiths Group Plc's <SMIN.L> medical division for 2.8 billion pounds ($3.60 billion) was rejected by Smiths' board, Sky News reported on Monday.
The deal would have consisted largely of cash and partly of ICU Medical stock, Sky News said. http://bit.ly/2NiaAmU
The U.S.-based healthcare group tabled a written offer last month for Smiths Medical that would have also given Smiths a stake in the combined business, Sky News added.
ICU Medical has been flexible about the amount of stock that would be part of the transaction, which would have valued Smiths Medical at between 2.5 billion pounds to 2.8 billion pounds, Sky News said.
It is unclear where the rejection of ICU's most recent offer leaves the two sides, according to the report.
Sky News said a source close to Smiths pointed out that talks must be ongoing given the absence of a stock exchange announcement to the contrary.
The new proposal was made by ICU Medical soon after the two companies were close to abandoning their discussions about merging their healthcare divisions, according to the report.
Smiths Group and ICU Medical did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside regular business hours.
(Reporting by Rama Venkat Raman in Bengaluru; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
