Bloomfield health insurer Cigna said it will close its $67 acquisition of pharmacy-benefits manager Express Scripts on Thursday, after receiving a final approval in New Jersey.
The proposed deal received backing from New Jersey regulators on Tuesday and will close on Thursday, Cigna disclosed in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing.
Federal regulators approved the deal in September, just weeks after U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, of Iowa, urged DOJ to launch a review of the deal, warning officials it would hurt market competition.
Activist investor Carl Icahn also attempted to block the deal.
More than two weeks later, in August, 90 percent of Cigna shareholders voted to approve the acquisition.
The sale was expected to close by year-end. New York and California regulators signed off on it last week.
Cigna announced its plans in March to buy Express Scripts in an cash-stock deal.
The Cigna deal will mark the second major vertical integration between a health insurer and pharmacy-benefits management company in 2018.
CVS Health closed its $69 billion acquisition of Hartford-based health insurer Aetna on Nov. 28. However, there’s been some delay, as a federal judge on Tuesday said he’s still reviewing a settlement the Department of Justice signed with the merging companies.
