U.S. healthcare giant Baxter International has announced plans to split its pharmaceuticals and its medical devices businesses into two publicly traded companies from mid-2015, citing the diverging dynamics of the two operations.

The transaction will take the form of a tax-free distribution to Baxter shareholders.

Baxter's pharmaceuticals unit, BioScience, had sales of around $6 billion in 2013 from its portfolio of recombinant and plasma-based proteins to treat hemophilia and other bleeding disorders. Revenues of the medical devices unit totalled $9 billion.

Both businesses will remain headquartered in Illinois. Current Baxter CEO Robert Parkinson will continue in his role, while Ludwig Hantson, president of its BioScience group, will lead the still to be named biopharmaceutical company.

The healthcare group said it expects to take a one-time charge for the biotechnology spinoff but this should not affect its financial forecast for 2014. Earlier, the news agency Reuters reported that Baxter was exploring the sale of its vaccines business, which had 2013 sales of about $300 million.