UnitedHealth Group Inc. is in advanced talks to acquire employee benefit management company Helios in a $1.7 billion deal, according to Bloomberg Business. The potential deal with Helios would expand UnitedHealth's footprint in the workers' compensation industry after its takeover of Catamaran Corp. earlier this year.
Helois, owned by private equity firms Kelso & Co. and Stone Point Capital, is the product of the 2013 merger of PMSI Group and StoneRiver Holdings Inc.'s Progressive Medical, according to Bloomberg. UnitedHealth declined to comment on the potential deal, and the article notes that talks still could fall apart between the two companies. Article