Anthem Nears Deal To Buy Cigna For $48 Bln : Reports

(RTTNews) - Anthem Inc. (ANTM) is near an agreement to buy rival Cigna Corp. (CI) for about $48 billion, according to media reports citing people familiar with the matter.

Anthem will pay $187 per share for Cigna, which compares to its most recent offer of $184 per share. An announcement could come later this week.

Aetna Inc.(AET) said it agreed to buy Humana Inc. (HUM) for a combination of cash and stock valued at about $230 per Humana share or $37 billion earlier this month, a day after Centene Corp. (CNC) said it reached a deal to acquire Health Net Inc. (HNT) for about $6.8 billion, including assumed debt of about $500 million.