By Paige Minemyer
Change Healthcare may have found a buyer for its ClaimsXten business, according to media reports.
Sources tell Bloomberg that the company is in advanced talks to sell off its payment integity arm to New Mountain Capital in a deal that would earn ClaimsXten a US$2 billion valuation. Change agreed to sell ClaimsXten in a bid to secure regulatory approval for its merger with UnitedHealth Group.
A final agreement has not been reached, Bloomberg reported and talks could still end without one. The deal may hinge on the future of UnitedHealth’s acquisition of Change.
That Change was considering an asset sale to secure the closure of its deal with UnitedHealth was initially reported in January.
The merger was first announced in January 2021 and is valued at US$8 billion in cash and US$5 billion in debt. The Department of Justice sued to block the merger in late February, just days before the two companies planned to consummate the merger.
DOJ argued that the deal would allow UnitedHealth to access a treasure trove of data on competitors that it could use to get a leg up on those companies. In a court filing, UHG fired back that it already accesses such data through its Optum offerings and using it to boost UnitedHealthcare would amount to “economic suicide” for OptumInsight.
