LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - US health insurance titans Aetna Inc and Humana Inc have quit their planned $34bn tie-up after a court in that country ruled last month that it would limit competition.
As a result, Aetna would cough up a $1bn break-up fee to Humana, or $630m after taxes, reported Bloomberg. The termination of the would-be combination also ended its plans to sell some Medicare Advantage assets to Molina Healthcare Inc..

The companies had mulled whether to appeal the 23 January court ruling that found the planned merger would retard competition in the private Medicare Advantage programme for retirees.

The tie-up agreement was due to expire on 15 February. It was first announced in July 2015, not long after Anthem Inc and Cigna Corp said they would combine.

A year later, the US Justice Department sued to block both deals in separate lawsuits. It won in both, bringing an end to what would have been huge industry consolidation.

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