The Cigna-Express Scripts deal has drawn investor skepticism
over concerns that Amazon.com's <AMZN.O> entry will upend the
healthcare sector and President Donald Trump's push to cut
rebates will hurt profitability of pharmacy benefit managers
such as Express Scripts.
"When Amazon starts to compete as we believe they will, with
their 100 million Prime users and scale distribution system,
they will have no trouble breaking into the so-called
ecosystem," Icahn wrote in the letter.
"With lower prices, the beneficiary will be American consumer,
not the owners of Express Scripts."
Icahn, who has a long position on Cigna and a short position on
Express Scripts, said in a letter https://carlicahn.com/open-letter-to-cigna-stockholders
titled "Cigna's $60 billion folly" that the insurer was
overpaying for Express Scripts.
Last week, Cigna said it was confident of winning shareholder
approval for its Express Scripts deal. The shareholder vote is
due on Aug. 24.
Cigna and Express Scripts were not immediately available for
comment.
(Reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj
Kalluvila and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
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