UnitedHealth Group has pushed again the deadline for its almost $8 billion acquisition of Change Healthcare, in response to a brand new submitting with the Securities and Trade Fee (SEC).
Change stated within the submitting that UnitedHealth knowledgeable the corporate it was pushing again the deal’s outdoors date to April 2022. Earlier filings urged the acquisition might shut as early as late February.
Throughout the merger settlement, each firms have the appropriate to push again the surface date.
UnitedHealth and Change are awaiting the completion of an investigation into the merger by the Division of Justice (DOJ), which has been probing the deal on antitrust grounds.
RELATED: UnitedHealth-Change Healthcare deal might shut in late February
UnitedHealth executives stated throughout its third-quarter earnings name in October that it expects acquisition to shut within the “first half” of 2022. The settlement was first introduced in January and since then has generated loads of controversy.
Opponents of the deal, such because the American Hospital Affiliation, warn that if UnitedHealth is allowed to scoop up Change, it might create an enormous monopoly on healthcare information.
The DOJ started investigating the acquisition in March amid a rising refrain of antitrust issues. The company was reportedly contemplating a lawsuit to intervene within the deal in early August, however, later that month, UnitedHealth and Change entered right into a timing settlement to delay closing till it accomplished its investigation.
UnitedHealth intends to fold Change Healthcare into OptumInsight, its analytics arm.
The brand new submitting doesn’t present an replace on the standing of the DOJ investigation, however Change beforehand stated in SEC paperwork that each firms are absolutely complying with the company.
