UnitedHealth agrees to $3.2 billion deal to buy payments company Equian
By Thu, Jun 20, 2019
UnitedHealth Group Inc. has agreed to buy health-care payments firm Equian LLC from its private-equity owner for about $3.2 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
Equian, owned by New Mountain Capital, offers payment-processing services for health-care companies and insurers and touts an ability to reduce mistakes that cause overpayment.
It is likely that UnitedHealth UNH, -0.97% would merge Equian into its Optum health-services arm, a rapidly growing part of its business that caters to insurers, hospitals and other health-care companies. Equian would add to its array of offerings and help Optum branch out beyond health care, since Equian has other types of insurers as clients as well.
UnitedHealth, with a market value of roughly $235 billion, is the parent of the largest U.S. health insurer, UnitedHealthcare. The company is known as a prolific acquirer. Health care has been the second-most active sector in mergers and acquisitions this year after technology, with more than $260 billion of deals announced so far, according to Dealogic.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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