California Department of Corporations approves Wellpoint/Health Systems merger.WOODLAND HILLS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 7, 1995--WellPoint Health Networks Inc. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :WLP WLP WebLogic Portal (Bea Systems) WLP Wafer Level Packaging WLP Women's Learning Partnership (Bethesda, MD) WLP Workplace Learning & Performance WLP World Library Partnership, Inc. ) Thursday announced that the California Department of Corporations (DOC) has approved WellPoint's pending merger with Health Systems International Inc. (NYSE:HQ) under the terms of the definitive merger agreement previously announced on April 3, 1995. The merger would create the nation's largest publicly traded managed-health-care company, with more than 4.7 million medical members and approximately $6 billion in annual revenue. The DOC's approval also allows WellPoint's parent company, Blue Cross of California (BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) The field in an e-mail header that names additional recipients for the message. It is similar to carbon copy (cc), but the names do not appear in the recipient's message. Not all e-mail systems support the bcc feature. See fcc. ), to implement the public benefit plan that BCC filed with the DOC on Sept. 15, 1994. Under that plan, BCC would donate its noncommercial assets to two new independent charitable foundations dedicated to improving health care in California. ``We are extremely pleased to receive this final regulatory clearance from the DOC,'' said Leonard D. Schaeffer, chairman and chief executive officer of WellPoint. ``We look forward to closing the transaction this fall and continuing our efforts to offer outstanding service and products to our customers, strengthen relationships with our providers and build value for our shareholders.'' The pending merger has been approved by the boards of directors of BCC, WellPoint and Health Systems, and the California Wellness Foundation, which is a major shareholder of Health Systems. The transaction has been granted early clearance by federal antitrust regulators and BCC has received a favorable ruling from the Internal Revenue Service. In addition, the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Association has approved use of the Blue Cross trademark by the new company. The approval by the DOC clears the way for the public stockholders of WellPoint and Health Systems to vote on the merger this fall. BCC, currently representing 97.6 percent of the voting interest Voting interest in business and accounting is a percentage of voting stock owned. This notion is different from economic interest that refers to a percentage of all the equity issued, including preferred stock, warrants, and so on. of WellPoint, has committed to vote in favor of the transaction. In addition, stockholders representing more than 50 percent of the Class A voting common stock of Health Systems also have committed to vote for the transaction. WellPoint is one of the nation's largest publicly traded managed-care companies, serving 2.8 million medical members and 9 million pharmacy/dental members. The company offers a comprehensive array of managed-care health plans through its HMO HMO health maintenance organization. HMO n. A corporation that is financed by insurance premiums and has member physicians and professional staff who provide curative and preventive medicine within certain financial, , PPO PPO abbr. preferred provider organization PPO Managed care Preferred provider organization, see there Infectious disease Pleuropneumonia-like organism, see there and specialty networks. Specialty products include pharmacy benefit management A Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) is a third party administrator of prescription drug programs. They are primarily responsible for processing and paying prescription drug claims. , dental, vision, mental health, life insurance and workers' compensation workers' compensation, payment by employers for some part of the cost of injuries, or in some cases of occupational diseases, received by employees in the course of their work. . CONTACT: Wellpoint Health Networks Inc., Woodland Hills John Cygul, 818/703-4321 |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion