Aetna Agrees to Buy Humana for $34.1 Billion

Posted on July 6, 2015 by

via Wall Street Journal

Aetna Inc. said Friday that it had agreed to buy Humana Inc. for $34.1 billion in cash and stock, following weeks of frenzied merger talks among the largest health insurers.

Under the deal, Aetna would pay about $230 a share for Humana, a premium of 23% from Thursday’s close and 29% from the company’s share price before The Wall Street Journal in late May first reportedHumana was exploring a sale. Including debt, the companies said, the deal is valued the deal at $37 billion.

A takeover approach for Humana earlier this year thrust the biggest health-insurance companies into a five-way merger frenzy.Cigna Corp. and Aetna were vying to buy Humana, while fielding takeover approaches of their own. Cigna andAnthem Inc. haverekindled talks after Cigna earlier rejected a public takeover bid of $184 a share from Anthem, its larger rival, andUnitedHealth Group Inc.earlier approached Aetna.

Meantime, Medicaid-focused Centene Corp. said Thursday that itagreed to buy Health Net Inc., in a deal worth about $6.3 billion..

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About thebenefitblog

Eric is a Producer at Lockton Insurance Brokers, Inc., the world’s largest privately held commercial broker. Eric has over 23 years of experience in the insurance industry and has spent the last 11 years with Lockton. Eric specializes in Health & Welfare Benefits, Retirement Planning, and Executive Benefits. Eric's clients utilize his expertise in the areas of Plan Due Diligence, Transaction Structure, Fiduciary Oversight, Investment Design, Compliance and Vendor negotiation to improve the operational & financial outcome for each client. The Benefit Blog is a place to share that expertise and industry news.
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