U.S. medical device maker Boston Scientific Corp will make a partial offer for a majority stake of up to 65% in Chinese medical technology company Acotec Scientific Holdings , the companies said.

The acquisition, which is expected to close in the first half of 2023, according to a joint statement on Sunday, comes amid a slowdown in merger and acquisitions activity in the U.S. life sciences sector.

Boston Scientific said it would pay HK$20 ($2.57) a share, for a total cash payment of about $523 million, for a 65% stake.

M&As have hit "multi-year lows" in 2022 in the U.S. life sciences and pharmaceutical industry, with annualized deal value almost halved from last year while annualized deal volumes fell28%, PwC said in a report on Thursday.

The accounting and consultancy firm said it expected activity in 2023 to "more closely resemble prior years".

The offer of HK$20 per share for Acotec is a premium of about 31.6% over its last close, and about 135.5% over the average close for the last 150 consecutive trading days, the Chinese firm told the Hong Kong stock exchange on Monday.

The deal is among several purchases this year by Boston Scientific, including a $615- million, debt-included

deal

to acquire Apollo Endosurgery Inc announced in November.

Citi and Somerley Capital respectively advised Boston Scientific and Acotec on the deal, Acotec said in its filing. ($1=HK$7.7867) (Reporting by Jyoti Narayan in Bengaluru and Roxanne Liu in Beijing; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Clarence Fernandez)