Centene rises on deal to sell some hospital businesses in Europe
25/07/2022 17:25
** Shares of Centene Corp CNC.N rise 1.4% to $92.19 in
afternoon trade
** Health insurer to sell its Spanish and Central European
businesses to French private hospital company Vivalto Santé as
it streamlines its portfolio urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2Z626C
** Financial details of deal undisclosed; CNC says it
intends to use the majority of the net proceeds from the sale to
repurchase stock and the balance to reduce debt
** CNC last year said it was evaluating strategic
alternatives for its international business and looking to
divest non-core assets
** "We never really grasped the strategic logic of CNC
getting into the Spanish hospital business in the first place,"
says Stephens analyst Scott Fidel
** Up to the last close, CNC up 10.4% YTD, outperforming an
8% decline in the S&P 500 healthcare sector .SPXHC index
(Reporting by Amruta Khandekar)
((Amruta.Khandekar@thomsonreuters.com;))