jetcityimage
Amedisys (NASDAQ:AMED) rose 3.3% after UnitedHealth (NYSE:UNH) late Friday disclosed an agreement with VitalCaring Group to sell some of the two companies’ healthcare centers.
The divestiture is being done to appease Department of Justice antitrust concerns over the more than $3B deal that has Amedisys merging with UnitedHealth, according to an 8-K filing on Friday.
The agreement prompted William Blair to downgrade Amedisys (AMED) to market perform from outperform, as there is now “minimal risk that the United Health-Amedisys deal does not close,” analyst Matthew Larew wrote in a note.
“Given the tighter spread now reflecting WBLR’s expectation that the deal will close, it is downgrading the stock to market perform,” Larew wrote.
The news comes after shares of Amedisys (AMED) fell 5% on May 31 after a report that a potential divestiture buyer in its planned sale to UNH dropped out of the process as the companies work to appease antitrust regulators.
Amedisys (AMED), which agreed to a $101 a share sale to UnitedHealth in late June of last year, is waiting for the Dept. of Justice to sign off on the deal for the home-health care provider. Amedisys announced in August that it received a request from the DOJ for more information regarding its planned sale to UnitedHealth (UNH).
