U.S. UnitedHealth Group has put in a bid for Portugal's Espirito Santo Saude (ESS) , the hospital business of the indebted Espirito Santo family, Portugal's CMVM market regulator said on Thursday. CMVM said UnitedHealth had made a direct offer to bankrupt Espirito Santo family company Rioforte for the purchase of Espirito Santo Saude at a price of 4.75 euros a share, higher than all the previous bids.The offer came as one of the previous bidders -- Portuguese healthcare firm Jose de Mello -- said it was pulling out because competition authorities would not be able to give their opinion on the bid by Friday. The firm had until Friday to formally register its bid.UnitedHealth made its offer directly to Rioforte rather than through the stock exchange. ESS is 51 percent owned by the Espirito Santo family.Rioforte and the Espirito Santo family's other main holding companies filed for creditor protection in July under a mountain of debt.
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UnitedHealthcare) is a diversified health and well-being company. Shares of UNH fell by 2.09% or $-1.84/share to $86.37. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $66.72 and as high as $88.85. On average, 3549040 shares of UNH exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 2628357.
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