NEW YORK — Bayer AG plans to sell its Bayer Diabetes Care business to Panasonic Healthcare Holdings Co. Ltd. for about $1.16 billion.

The companies said Wednesday that the sale will include the leading Contour portfolio of blood glucose monitoring meters and strips — encompassing the Contour Next, Contour Plus, Contour and Contour TS — and other products, such as the Breeze2, Brio, Entrust, Elite and Microlet lancing devices. Bayer Diabetes Care, which also provides diabetes management software, had sales of about $1.03 billion in 2014.

Bayer Diabetes Care’s principal business is the Contour line of blood glucose monitoring meters and strips.

Formed last year as an independent company from Panasonic Corp., and backed by global investment firm KKR, Tokyo-based Panasonic Healthcare Holdings develops and manufactures blood glucose monitoring meters and strips via the In Vitro Diagnostics business of its Panasonic Healthcare Co. Ltd. subsidiary. Bayer Diabetes Care has marketed and sold Panasonic Healthcare products globally for more than two decades and has been its exclusive sales and distribution partner for the Contour Next products and some Contour products.

“We are confident that the sale of our Diabetes Care business to our long-standing partner Panasonic Healthcare, with the strong backing of KKR, will support the long-term sustainability of this portfolio,” stated Werner Baumann, member of the board of management of Germany-based Bayer AG and chief executive officer of Bayer HealthCare.

The companies said the integration of Bayer Diabetes Care’s global sales network with Panasonic Healthcare’s production capabilities will better enable them to serve people with diabetes, who now number nearly 350 million, up about 30 million from 1985, according to the World Health Organization.

Panasonic Healthcare noted that the rate of diabetes diagnosis stands to rise, especially in low- and middle-income countries, and as a result health care providers in many countries have instituted price reduction programs for diabetes care products, increasing the volume of these products in the market at lower prices. By combining their capabilities, Bayer Diabetes Care and Panasonic Healthcare will be better able to provide top-quality and cost-competitive diabetes products to patients, Panasonic Healthcare said.

“Since first taking steps to becoming an independent health care company from Panasonic Corp. through KKR’s investment, it has been our key management objective to form strong partnerships with strategically pivotal companies,” commented Kenji Yamane, president of Panasonic Healthcare Holdings. “For more than 20 years, Bayer Diabetes Care has been our flagship partnership, with whom we share complementary goals. Now, with KKR’s support, we are pleased to have reached this landmark agreement with Bayer Diabetes Care. We anticipate that this partnership will take our two great businesses to new heights, and we wholly welcome the Bayer Diabetes Care team as full partners to Panasonic Healthcare.”

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2016, pending customary conditions and regulatory approvals.

“This groundbreaking agreement of two strong leaders in manufacturing and marketing diabetes care products, combined with the commitment and shared vision of our partner KKR, will create a large global business fully committed to investing in innovative solutions that will help improve the lives of diabetes patients,” stated Michael Kloss, global head of Bayer Diabetes Care.

Along with In Vitro Diagnostics, Panasonic Healthcare’s businesses include Medicom (medical IT) and Biomedical (life sciences).

“We are pleased that Bayer Diabetes Care chose Panasonic Healthcare and KKR as the trusted partners for bringing the business to its next stage of development. This is another milestone in KKR’s track record of partnering with leading German and Japanese corporates and in growing top health care companies,” Johannes Huth, member and head of KKR Europe, Africa and Middle East, and Hiro Hirano, member and CEO of KKR Japan, said in a joint statement. “Together, we will leverage our experience and network to create a global diabetes care solutions powerhouse in an effort to make this a transformational transaction for the diabetes care industry.”