Anthem has gone public with its bid to take over Cigna for $53.8 billion.
Rumors that Anthem — which is one of the largest private health insurance providers in the world — has its eyes on Cigna have been circulating for months.
But on Saturday, the company issued a public statement outlining its offer to buy Cigna at $184 per share, which is 35.4% more than Cigna’s market value as of May 28 and 18.7% more than its closing price on Friday.
Share prices for Cigna jumped as much as 15% on June 15 following a flurry of news reports that the companies were in talks, though the Wall Street Journal reported Cigna has continually rebuffed Anthem’s offers.
Anthem is second only to UnitedHealth in terms of market share for private insurance. UnitedHealth reportedly made a merger approach of its own to Aetna recently.
The takeover deals come as the health insurance industry scrambles to consolidate as the Affordable Care Act changes how the companies do business.
Anthem also estimated that a combined company would generate more than $115 billion in annual revenues — a 55% increase from Anthem’s 2014 numbers.