Dive Brief:
- CVS Health and Signify have received a request for more information from the Department of Justice about CVS’ $8 billion acquisition of the home health provider, the pharmacy giant disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
- The second request, which CVS and Signify received on Wednesday, gives regulators another 30 days to review the transaction. CVS and Signify said they have been working cooperatively with the DOJ and will continue doing so.
- CVS said it still expects the deal, which was first announced in September, to close in the first half of next year.
Dive Insight:
Regulators are taking a more active stance in reviewing M&A in the healthcare sector after President Joe Biden last year said he wanted more oversight of healthcare mergers and issued an executive order for regulators to “review and revise” M&A guidelines.
But that heightened scrutiny hasn’t always led to the scuttling of controversial deals. In September, a judge denied the DOJ’s attempt to block UnitedHealth’s $13 billion buy of data analytics firm Change Healthcare, clearing the path for the deal to go through days later.
In September, CVS won out over other potential buyers, including Amazon and UnitedHealth, for Dallas-based Signify. The Woonsocket, Rhode Island-based healthcare giant has been angling to become a vertically integrated powerhouse, and management has said that solidifying its foothold in primary care and home health is a key part of its agenda.
Signify went public in February 2021 and raised more than $500 million. The company’s network of clinicians meets patients in their homes to identify their medical and social needs, then connect them with any needed follow-up services.
Signify has grown to serve more than 2.5 million homes, which could create a valuable referral stream to other CVS services if and when the deal closes, the company said.
