UnitedHealth Group Inc., which just closed on a multibillion-dollar acquisition this week, isn’t waiting long for its next big deal: The Wall Street Journal reports that the insurance giant has agreed to buy Equian, which processes health care payments.
Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth will pay $3.2 billion to acquire Equian, an Indianapolis company that is owned by New York-based private equity New Mountain Capital. Equian provides payment-processing services and tools that study insurance claims, aiming to lower overpayment risks. Its biggest business in is health care — Mountain Capital says Equian represents 9 of the 10 largest health-care payers — but the company sells to other types of insurers as well, giving UnitedHealth an opening to expand beyond health care.
There’s no comment from either company; the Journal cites undisclosed people familiar with the matter for its story.
UnitedHealth would likely fold the Equian business into Optum Health, its fast-growing, services-focused subsidiary. Optum is also the business that will absorb DaVita Inc.’s physician group, which UnitedHealth this week officially acquired in a $4.3 billion deal. That deal includes nearly 300 clinics, a half-dozen outpatient surgical centers and 2,200 medical staff in six states. (DaVita is keeping its kidney care clinics.)
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Bloomberg reported earlier this year that Mountain Capital was considering a sale of Equian, which it bought for $225 million in 2015. Since then, Equian has grown larger through a merger with software company Trover Solutions Inc.
UnitedHealth Group is Minnesota’s largest public company. Shares are trading slightly higher pre-market Friday on the merger report.
Date: June 24, 2019
Source: Business Journal
