BX Blackstone Inc

By Colin Kellaher

UnitedHealth Group Inc. on Wednesday said it agreed to buy Change Healthcare Inc. for $25.75 a share, or about $7.84 billion, in cash.

The deal represents a roughly 41% premium to Tuesday's closing price of $18.24 for Change, a Nashville, Tenn., healthcare-technology company.

UnitedHealth, a Minnetonka, Minn., health insurer, said it will combine Change with its Optum health-services unit.

UnitedHealth said private-equity funds affiliated with Blackstone Group Inc., which own about 20% of Change, have agreed to vote in favor of the deal, which is slated to close in the second half the year.

UnitedHealth said it expects the acquisition will add about 50 cents to adjusted per-share earnings in 2022, with the benefits advancing strongly in subsequent years.

Shares of Change rose 38.4% to $25.25 in premarket trading.

Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 06, 2021 06:38 ET (11:38 GMT)

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