Health Care Insurer Mergers: Who Got the Best Deal?

by | Jul 27, 2015 6:31 pm | Managed Care

You’ve heard the prices, now here are the multiples. After hours of teasing about a definitive agreement, Anthem, Inc. (NYSE: ANTM) finally reached an agreement to acquire Cigna Corp. (NYSE: CI) for $54.2 billion. That works out to 1.5x price/revenue and 13.9x price/EBITDA. The deal followed Aetna’s (NYSE: AET) $37 billion acquisition of Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM), which gives us a multiple of 0.7x price/revenue and 13.7x price/EBITDA. Cigna is more “administrative services only” versus “full risk” insurance. ASO is lower revenue, but higher margin business than is full risk, which helps explain the P/R difference between the two deals. The much smaller combo... Read More »

Molina Healthcare Steps Up Its Game

by | Jul 20, 2015 3:21 pm | Managed Care

The big buzz in the Managed Care sector is the $37 billion bid from Aetna (NYSE: AET) for Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM), of course. While that deal is lauded for the Medicare assets it brings to Aetna, Molina Healthcare (NYSE: MOH) continues to beef up on Medicaid assets. Last week it announced two deals, one for the Medicaid assets of MyCare Chicago covering approximately 61,000 enrollees in Cook County, Illinois. The other was for Preferred Medical Plan’s Medicaid assets, serving approximately 25,000 enrollees. These deals come on the heels of its acquisition in May of HealthPlus of Michigan’s MIChild contract, with around 6,000 patients, and the Medicaid contract of HealthPlus Partners,... Read More »

Centene Snares Health Net for $6.8 Billion

by | Jul 6, 2015 2:37 pm | Managed Care

And so it begins. The managed care merry-go-round picked up speed last week as Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) announced it would pay approximately $6.8 billion (including $500 million of debt) to acquire a smaller rival, Health Net, Inc. (NYSE: HNT). A day later, Aetna (NYSE: AET) and Humana (NYSE: HUM) agreed to a deal priced at $37 billion, including debt. That leaves Anthem Inc. (NYSE: ANTM) in pursuit of Cigna (NYSE: CI), which had turned down its latest offer of $47.5 billion the week before. All eyes are now on Molina Healthcare (NYSE: MOH) and WellCare Health Plans (NYSE: WCG), waiting to see if they are targets, or merger partners. Or both. Read More »

The Giant Health Insurers Are Circling

by | Jun 22, 2015 8:42 pm | Managed Care

It began in May, with Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) publicly declaring it was exploring a sale. That announcement ignited the smoldering rumors that have been swirling around the healthcare industry since the beginning of 2015: Expect a lot of consolidation in the Managed Care sector this year. By mid June The Wall Street Journal reported that UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) approached Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) with an offer, and that Anthem (NYSE: ANTM) and Cigna (NYSE: CI) were engaged in merger talks. We checked our DealSearchOnline database to see how each of the top five spent on managed care targets since 1994. Check ’em out.    Read More »

Another Record Falls in Q1:15

by | Apr 4, 2015 3:19 pm | Behavioral Health Care, Biotechnology, Home Health & Hospice, Hospitals, Laboratories, MRI & Dialysis, Long-Term Care, Managed Care, Medical Devices, Other Services, Pharmaceuticals, Physician Medical Groups, Rehabilitation

Now that the month is officially over, we can report our preliminary Q1:15 results—and it was another record breaker, at least for transactions. The 346 deals logged so far are 109% higher than the first quarter of 2014. You would think that the $104.7 billion in combined spending would set another record, but no. In Q1:09, we tracked $127.2 billion spent on 202 deals. That’s when Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) bought Wyeth for $68 billion.  Here’s the preliminary breakdown of Q1:15 — and remember, the spending is only for deals that disclosed prices. Read More »