Cigna wins OK to walk away from Anthem merger

Cigna Corp. can walk away from its merger with Anthem Inc., a Delaware judge ruled almost three months after another court blocked the deal as anticompetitive.

The ruling on Thursday means Anthem could be on the hook for $1.85 billion in breakup fees and $13 billion in damages to Cigna, which had argued that its would-be partner was too stubborn to see that the concerns about competition were insurmountable.

The decision may be the final dagger to a deal that has been as notable for the bad blood between the two insurers as its antitrust roadblocks.

Anthem is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn rulings finding the deal flawed by antitrust problems, and the court is unlikely to weigh in now that Cigna has been allowed to walk.

Matthew Asensio, a Cigna spokesman, and Bonnie Jacobs, an Anthem spokeswoman, had no immediate comment on the ruling.

Anthem is the parent company of Amerigroup Iowa, one of the three managed-care organizations that handle Iowa's Medicaid program.

Laster's decision makes it virtually impossible for Anthem to find a path to close the merger. The company either must convince the nation's highest court to overturn two lower court decisions finding the deal flawed or persuade new leadership at the Justice Department to drop objections to the union.

President Donald Trump has been seen as more friendly to deal-making than the Obama administration, which blocked the Cigna takeover as well as the tie-up of Aetna and Humana Inc.]