INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Anthem has ended its soured, $48 billion bid to buy rival Cigna, but the nation’s second-largest health insurer isn’t giving up a fight over whether Cigna deserves a termination fee for the scrapped deal.
Anthem said Friday that Cigna sabotaged the merger agreement and caused “massive damages” for Anthem, which provides Blue Cross-Blue Shield coverage in several states. It said it plans to “vigorously pursue” its claims against Cigna.
Representatives of Bloomfield, Connecticut-based Cigna Corp. did not immediately return calls seeking comment. Cigna has sought a $1.85 billion termination fee and damages from Anthem.
The Indianapolis-based insurer announced its decision a day after a Delaware judge refused its request to extend a ban blocking Cigna from pulling out of the deal.
The deal, announced in 2015, had already been rejected by a federal judge and an appeals court after antitrust regulators sued last summer to stop it. Anthem Inc. said last week that it would seek a Supreme Court review of the case.