UnitedHealth Is Said to Drop Out of Bids for Envision Health

(Bloomberg) -- UnitedHealth Group Inc. has dropped out of the sales process for Envision Healthcare Corp. and is no longer interested in a deal for all or part of the medical services company, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The person asked not to be identified as the details of the process aren’t public. UnitedHealth had been interested in Envision’s ambulatory services unit, potentially as part of a deal involving private equity firms for the rest of the health-care company, Bloomberg reported last week.

Envision shares fell as much as 6.8 percent, the biggest intraday drop since Nov. 1. They were trading at $39.94 at 12:01 p.m. in New York.

UnitedHealth declined to comment. An Envision representative didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

UnitedHealth dropped out after Envision sued the company on Monday. In the suit, Envision said the health insurer had stopped agreeing to add new Envision medical practices to the insurer’s networks, and had reduced payments to Envision providers. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Losing a bidder could complicate a sale of the company. Bloomberg reported last week that separate groups of private equity firms, including a consortium comprised of Hellman & Friedman, Onex Corp. and Clayton Dubilier & Rice, as well as one led by Carlyle Group LP, had expressed interest in all or part of Envision.

Envision’s ambulatory services unit owns and operates surgery centers. It accounted for about 16 percent of Envision’s revenue in 2017.

To contact the reporter on this story: Zachary Tracer in New York at ztracer1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Drew Armstrong at darmstrong17@bloomberg.net, Timothy Annett

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