By CVS Health Corp. is seeking to buy Signify Health Inc., according to people familiar with the matter, as the drugstore and insurance giant looks to expand in home-health services.
Signify Health
SGFY,
+2.32%
is exploring strategic alternatives including a sale, The Wall Street Journal reported this past week. Initial bids are due this coming week and CVS
CVS,
+0.38%
is planning to enter one, some of the people said. Others also are in the mix, they said, and CVS could face competition from other managed-care providers and private-equity firms.
There is no guarantee any of them will reach a deal for Signify, which has a market value of around $4.7 billion after its shares rose on the news of a potential sale.
For Woonsocket, R.I.-based CVS, which has a market value of $134 billion, a deal would help fulfill its stated ambition to become an even bigger provider of medical services. The company has indicated it hopes to have a deal in place to help it do so by year-end. Wall Street has largely focused on CVS’s efforts to add primary-care practices and doctors to its payroll, though executives have also discussed their ambitions to expand its in-home health presence.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
Also popular on WSJ.com:
The ultimate yuppie status symbol, a diamond tennis bracelet, goes mass.
They wanted a place where friends and family could stay. So they bought the house next door.
