UnitedHealth Group is “tentatively scheduled” to close its $5.4 billion merger with LHC Group before the market opens on Feb.23, the home health provider reported to the Nasdaq Stock Market Thursday.
In anticipation of the deal finalizing, LHC Groups shares will stop trading when the market closes Feb. 22. The company will be delisted even if the transaction is incomplete because it has not held a shareholder meeting in a year, which is required to remain on the Nasdaq exchange, the company acknowledged in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission last month.
UnitedHealth Group and the Lafayette, Louisana-based provider are still awaiting word from the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC requested additional information about the deal in June, which led the companies to postpone closing until March. The companies announced the merger last March and initially expected it to close during the second half of 2022. LHC Group would be folded into UnitedHealth Group’s Optum subsidiary.
UnitedHealth Group, LHC Group and the FTC did not immediately respond to interview requests.
Health insurance companies have invested in home health providers as Medicare Advantage enrollment grows and carriers look to shift care to more cost-efficient settings.
CVS Health, parent company of the insurer Aetna, announced in September that it would spend nearly $8 billion to acquire Signify Health, a home health risk assessment and physician enablement company, and Humana completed its acquisition of Kindred at Home in 2021.