Blackstone among suitors for UnitedHealth-owned Optum UK

The institution which supplies the physics diligent grounds strategy utilized by the bulk of GPs successful Britain is being circled by a battalion of imaginable buyers, conscionable 2 years aft it past changed hands.

Sky News has learnt that Blackstone is among a radical of backstage equity firms exploring imaginable offers for Optum's UK operation, which is owned by the New York-listed healthcare elephantine UnitedHealth Group.

Optum UK's concern includes EMIS, which was taken implicit by the UnitedHealth subsidiary successful 2023 successful a woody worthy astir £1.2bn.

The takeover was engineered nether the stewardship of Sir Andrew Witty, the erstwhile GlaxoSmithKline brag who precocious stepped down arsenic UnitedHealth's main executive.

The US-listed company's banal has fallen by much than a 3rd implicit the past year, leaving it with a marketplace capitalisation astatine Thursday's adjacent of conscionable nether $331bn.

Bank of America is understood to person been engaged to counsel connected the merchantability process.

One backstage equity root said that UnitedHealth was keen to recoup the 2023 acquisition price.

The prospective merchantability formed portion of efforts by Sir Andrew's successor, Stephen Hemsley, to apprehension the company's alarming valuation decline, they added.

Optum's takeover of EMIS woody was approved successful September 2023 by British contention regulators pursuing an in-depth Phase 2 investigation

A spokesperson for Optum said: "We bash not remark connected marketplace speculation oregon rumours."

Several different large fiscal investors are besides understood to beryllium successful the aboriginal stages of exploring bids for the business.

Blackstone declined to comment.