(Reuters) -Cigna has called off its deal to buy fellow U.S. health insurer Humana , scrapping a deal that could have created a roughly $140 billion giant in the industry, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
The companies could not come to agreement on price and other financial terms, the WSJ said, citing people familiar with the matter. Cigna is turning its focus toward smaller, so-called bolt-on, acquisitions in the near term, the report said.
Cigna continues to believe in the merits of a combination with Humana. A new company would have been focused on improving access to care and lowering costs for consumers, according to the report.
Cigna also believes a deal would have been achievable from a regulatory perspective, in spite of the current administration’s tough stance on mergers, the Journal added.
Instead, Cigna plans an additional $10 billion of stock buybacks, bringing its total planned repurchases to $11.3 billion.
Both companies did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
(Reporting by Manas Mishra and Juby Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Bill Berkrot and Mark Porter)
