HEALTHCARE/PHARMA: “Anthem Inc. said it would petition the Supreme Court to review the antitrust rulings blocking its acquisition of Cigna Corp. , a long-shot bid to revive a $48 billion deal amid litigation between the two companies.
A federal appeals court last month declined to allow the acquisition, affirming a trial judge’s earlier ruling that blocked the deal. Two judges on the three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected Anthem’s argument that the trial court had failed to sufficiently weigh the company’s claim that billions of dollars in cost savings would flow from the merger.
Anthem said its petition would focus on the stance of the third judge, Brett Kavanaugh, who sided with its defense of the deal. The insurer’s statement quoted from his dissent, which said ‘the record evidence decisively demonstrates that this merger would be beneficial to the employer-customers who obtain insurance services from Anthem and Cigna.’ “
-Anna Wilde Mathews, “Employers Balk at Curbs on Generous Health Plans,” The Wall Street Journal online, May 5, 2017 9:27am