UnitedHealth Has Little to Lose if Change Healthcare Deal Fails
With UnitedHealth Group poised to battle the U.S. Dept. of Justice in court over the fate of its proposed purchase of Change Healthcare, Inc., there’s still a host of unknowns about how that legal case will play out. However, one thing does appear to be clear to industry observers: UnitedHealth will be just fine no matter how the fight to salvage its transaction plays out.
In the credit rating world, “if the deal is ultimately stopped by the DOJ, it would be credit positive for UnitedHealth” because it would require the company to take on less debt, “but long-term growth prospects would be incrementally diminished,” Moody’s Investors Service wrote in a Feb. 28 report.