Bloomfield health insurer Cigna Corp. says its $3.8 billion buyout of Nashville’s HealthSpring Inc. could close as early as Tuesday.
Cigna originally had set the deal’s closing timetable for sometime in the first quarter, but in an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission filing narrowed the date to possibly Tuesday.
The timing suggests Cigna has received required approvals from Connecticut and Tennessee to close the deal.
HealthSpring stockholders OK’d the deal earlier this month. As part of the deal, Cigna agreed to pay $55 per share in cash for HealthSpring, which concentrates on selling Medicare Advantage plans, or privately run versions of the government’s Medicare program.
Such plans, which are subsidized by the government, are becoming very lucrative for health insurers and offer basic Medicare coverage topped with extras or premiums lower than standard Medicare rates.
