Amedisys Shares Rise as UnitedHealth Looks to Upend Option Care Deal

By Colin Kellaher

Amedisys shares jumped nearly 15% on Monday after the healthcare-services provider received an unsolicited, $3.26 billion takeover proposal from UnitedHealth Group's Optum health-services arm.

Optum said it is offering $100 a share in cash for Amedisys in a bid that could scuttle a prior agreement by Option Care Health to acquire Amedisys in an all-stock transaction.

Option Care in early May said it would issue 3.0213 shares, worth $99.07 when the deal was announced, for each share of Amedisys. But shares of Option Care have fallen since then, bringing the value of the transaction to $86.29 a share at the close of trading Friday.

Optum's offer, meanwhile, represents a 26% premium to Friday's closing price of $79.47 for Amedisys and a 27% premium to the Baton Rouge, La., company's closing price of $78.63 on May 3, before the Option Care deal was announced.

Amedisys said its board determined that the Optum proposal could reasonably be expected to result in an superior deal under the terms of its agreement with Option Care, and that it has begun exploratory talks with its new suitor.

Optum said its proposal has no financing contingency, and that it is confident it can secure regulatory approval for a deal.

Option Care, for its part, said its planned union with Amedisys offers a high degree of certainty in obtaining regulatory clearance due to the complementary nature of their businesses, and that the deal would allow shareholders of both companies to participate in the upside of the combined organization.

Shares of Amedisys were recently up nearly 15% to $91.09 in early trading Monday, while shares of Option Care tacked on 7.5% to $30.69 and shares of UnitedHealth edged up 0.1% to $499.82.

Write to Colin Kellaher at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 05, 2023 10:29 ET (14:29 GMT)

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