The Ministry of Commerce (MOC) has authorized Baxter International Inc's 4-billion-US dollar bid for Sweden's Gambro AB, provided that Baxter divests its global continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT).

The conditional approval, which is subject to corporate monitoring, also requires the US dialysis equipment manufacturer to end an outsourcing production deal in China with Japan's Nipro Corporation by March 31, 2016, the ministry said.

The deal would make Baxter the world's second-largest dialysis equipment maker and may exclude and stifle other competitors on the CRRT and dialysis equipment markets, according to the ministry's review of the bid's impact on related global and Chinese markets.

Baxter and Gambro together amount for 64 percent of the global CRRT monitor market and 84 percent of China's CRRT hemofiltration product market, which reach monopoly standards and may curb competition on the global and Chinese markets, according to MOC's review.

Overseas monopolistic conduct that excludes or stifles competition on the Chinese market is subject to China's anti-trust law. The MOC has received 754 related filings so far this year, of which 690 filings have been registered and 643 have been concluded, with most approved unconditionally.