Roche, the Swiss pharmaceutical company, is using the internal corporate finance team to sell its over-the-counter drugs business valued at between €1.7bn ($2bn) and €1.8bn. Six suitors are understood to have reached the second round, each submitting separate bids.

Roche has used advisers in only four of its nine deals worth over €1bn since 1999. It used Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan for share sales in 2000 and 2001 and has Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse First Boston as advisers on deals.