Morgan Stanley is advising Bayer, the German pharmaceuticals firm, on its exclusive talks with Cerberus Capital Management, the distressed debt investor, over the €500m ($611m) sale of its blood plasma business.

Cerberus Capital Management, in conjunction with Precision Pharma of the US, is understood to have gained exclusivity ahead of Bain Capital and Carlyle Group, rival US private equity firms, according to sources close to Bayer.