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Sweden: Anthem CEO says antitrust review timing still on track

By  |  January 12, 2016

Anthem Corp’s chief executive officer, Joseph Swedish, said on Monday he is optimistic the company will get the antitrust regulatory approval it needs for its $47 billion purchase of smaller rival Cigna this year.

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    Swedish, in an interview at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, said Anthem – which will become the largest US health insurer if the deal goes through – is still providing documents to antitrust regulators to be used in deciding competitive issues.

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    He expects that process to end in the “not too distant future,” at which point the US Justice department will sort through the information and make a decision on how to proceed.

    “We are still hopeful that somewhere in the second half of the year, we will get the announcement from the DOJ. … We are optimistic,” Swedish said. “We have not seen anything that has given us cause for concern.”

    Anthem and Cigna announced their deal this past summer, a few weeks after Aetna Inc said it would buy smaller rival Humana Inc. Investors have been skeptical about both deals closing, and with a long regulatory review timeline, shares in both companies are trading far from the values implied by the deal terms.

    Full content: Insurance Journal

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