Stephen Nakrosis | June 21, 2015
Cigna Corp.’s board of directors has rejected a $47.5 billion takeover offer from Anthem Inc., saying in a letter Sunday they were “deeply disappointed” in Anthem’s actions.
The Cigna board was unanimous in their decision, which they called “inadequate” in their letter.
Anthem went public with its $184 a share offer on Saturday, which equates to about $47.5 billion for all Cigna stock that was recently outstanding.
The Wall Street Journal earlier reported Anthem is making the cash-and-stock offer public in an effort to put pressure on Cigna through its shareholders, according to a person familiar with the matter.
In the letter to Anthem, Cigna’s board said “We are deeply disappointed with your recent actions. We have been engaged in good faith discussions with Anthem to determine whether a potential strategic combination is in the best interests of Cigna’s shareholders.” The letter also said “A combination involving Anthem and Cigna under the right circumstances has the potential to bring together our complementary strengths in a manner that would provide substantial benefits to both consumers of healthcare services and healthcare professionals, while delivering immediate and sustainable economic returns to shareholders.”
Source: The Wall Street Journal
http://www.wsj.com/articles/cigna-rejects-anthem-takeover-bid-1434921786