(Reuters) - Financial services firm Sun Life Financial Inc said on Sunday it has agreed to buy oral healthcare company DentaQuest for $2.47 billion. The transaction will be financed using cash and debt, Sun Life said in a statement, adding that the deal is expected to close in the first half of 2022. The acquisition would be immediately accretive, adding about C$0.17 ($0.1347) to underlying earnings per share and 42 basis points to underlying return on equity in 2022 on an annualized basis. Sun Life also said that private equity firm Centerbridge, which is also a minority shareholder in DentaQuest, will sell its stake in the company. ($1 = 1.2622 Canadian dollars) Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.