Dive Brief:
-
Veritas Capital’s Verscend Technologies has agreed to acquire healthcare payment company Cotiviti Holdings for $4.9 billion in cash.
-
The deal includes Cotiviti shareholders getting $44.75 in cash per share of Cotiviti common stoke, while Verscend assumes the company’s outstanding debt.
-
Cotiviti’s board of directors unanimously approved the deal, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Dive Insight:
The new, merged business will operate as a private healthcare IT company. Emad Rizk, president and CEO of Verscend, said in a statement the deal could save $900 billion in healthcare waste and abuse in the claims payment and care continuum.
The company will offer complimentary tools across multiple intervention points in the payment process, according to the companies.
Verscend Technologies rebranded in 2016; the company was previously called Verisk Health.
Veritas' healthcare portfolio also includes government-focused technology company Peraton. Veritas has helped build and sell healthcare companies, including Truven Health Analytics to IBM Watson Health and Vangent to General Dynamics.
Meanwhile, Veritas Capital recently announced that it entered into a definitive agreement with GE Healthcare for a package of health IT tools. The deal was for about $1 billion and includes GE’s revenue cycle, ambulatory care and workforce management assets, as well as its Centricity EMR.
The new deal is the latest example of the healthcare M&A trend that’s touched every part of the industry. Mega healthcare deals, particularly among vertical mergers such as the proposed CVS-Aetna merger, have been a trend this year. The industry is awaiting how and if these deals close in the wake of the completed AT&T/Time Warner deal.