Investors tend to prefer pure-play businesses that are easier to evaluate than companies with a range of different operations. That helps explain Becton Dickinson’s plan to transform itself into a pure-play medical device maker. As a first step to achieving its goal, in April 2022, the company handed out shares in its Diabetes Care business (called embecta) to its shareholders. Now, partly due to pressure from activist investor Starboard Value, Becton plans to set up its Biosciences and Diagnostic Solutions operations as a separate, publicly traded firm. That business makes products to help medical providers collect, transport and analyze medical samples. It also sells instruments and substances to medial research labs. It’s possible Becton may opt instead to sell this business to another device maker or private equity firm. A sale could be worth $21.5 billion, or 38% of its market cap. However, to avoid capital gains taxes, the company could also prefer to merge this unit with another publicly traded company. Becton is now…