PACIFICARE/FHP: RECEIVES FTC CLEARANCE FOR MERGER
PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. received "unconditionalThis is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
clearance" yesterday from the FTC "to proceed with its $2 billion
acquisition of FHP International Corp.," WALL STREET JOURNAL
reports. The ruling follows an "extensive antitrust probe of the
transaction" conducted by the FTC, focusing on the "combined
giant's domination of the Medicare health maintenance
organization business in Southern California" (1/16).
SATISFACTION: PacifiCare President and CEO Alan Hoops,
said, "We're very pleased with the outcome of the FTC's
investigation since it was a major milestone in the consummation
of this transaction. ... The satisfactory resolution to this
review should put to rest any anticompetitive concerns resulting
from the combination of these two companies and should allow us
to complete this transaction as quickly as possible." PacifiCare
said it expects to close the transaction in early February
pending "various regulatory approvals" (PacifiCare/FHP
International release, 1/15).