Bulletin: UnitedHealth Group Inc. Ratings Unaffected By Announced Acquisition Of DaVita Medical Group

NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) Dec. 6, 2017--S&P Global Ratings said today that its ratings on UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH; A+/Negative/A-1) and its subsidiaries are unaffected by UNH's announced $4.9 billion acquisition of DaVita Medical Group (DMG), a subsidiary of DaVita Inc. In our view, DMG, with its 300 medical clinics, 35 urgent care centers, and six outpatient surgery centers, is a good strategic fit with UNH subsidiary Optum Inc.'s health care delivery business (OptumCare). Although DMG has underperformed in recent years, we believe its competitive position and earnings will likely benefit from Optum's provider-focused services and data analytics. Financially, the $4.9 billion acquisition is larger than UNH's Surgical Care Affiliates acquisition in January 2017. However, we still view DMG

...NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) Dec. 6, 2017--S&P Global Ratings said today that its ratings on UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH; A+/Negative/A-1) and its subsidiaries are unaffected by UNH's announced $4.9 billion acquisition of DaVita Medical Group (DMG), a subsidiary of DaVita Inc. In our view, DMG, with its 300 medical clinics, 35 urgent care centers, and six outpatient surgery centers, is a good strategic fit with UNH subsidiary Optum Inc.'s health care delivery business (OptumCare). Although DMG has underperformed in recent years, we believe its competitive position and earnings will likely benefit from Optum's provider-focused services and data analytics. Financially, the $4.9 billion acquisition is larger than UNH's Surgical Care Affiliates acquisition in January 2017. However, we still view DMG integration risk as relatively modest given UNH's overall scale and lengthy integration track record. We expect the transaction to close in the first half of 2018 with UNH funding it with a mix...

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