NEVADA COMMISSIONER OF Insurance Alice A. Molasky-Arman will hold three additional sessions of the public hearing in Reno, Elko and Las Vegas to hear public comments concerning the proposed acquisition of Health Plan of Nevada, Inc. as part of the acquisition of Sierra Health Services, Inc. (NYSE: SIE) by UnitedHealth Group, Incorporated (NYSE: UNH).
Molasky-Arman scheduled the additional sessions of the hearing at the request of Governor Jim Gibbons. The purpose of the three additional sessions is to allow individuals to provide oral comments who did not have an opportunity to do so at the public hearing that began on June 14, 2007. Requests to comment at any of the three locations of the continued hearing must be received by the Division of Insurance no later than Monday, July 23, 2007. Comments will be limited to 5 minutes and will be included as part of the hearing record.
The continued hearings will be:
Wednesday, July 25, 2007, 9:30 a.m.
Elko County Commission Chambers
571 Idaho Street, Room 105
Elko, Nevada 89801
Thursday, July 26, 2007, 9:30 a.m.
Reno City Hall
City Council Chambers
1 East First Street
Reno, Nevada 89501
Friday, July 27, 2007, 9:30 a.m.
Grant Sawyer Office Building
555 East Washington Ave., Room 4412
Las Vegas, Nevada 89101
In addition to comments at any location of the public hearing, written comments may be submitted at the hearing or mailed to the Division of Insurance, 788 Fairview Dr., #300, Carson City, NV 89701 or by e-mail at insinfo@doi.state.nv.us.
Under the terms of the agreement, UnitedHealth will acquire all of Sierra's outstanding shares for $43.50 per share in cash, representing an equity value of $2.6 billion. The transaction was approved by the Boards of Directors of both insurers. Additionally, the merger must be approved by regulatory officials from Nevada, California, Texas and the U.S. Department of Justice. Sierra has already received approval of the merger from more than 99 percent of its shareholders.
The proposed plan and related documents can be viewed by logging on to sierrahealth.com.
Sierra Health Services, Inc. is based in Las Vegas and has 310,000 members in employer-sponsored plans in Nevada and another 320,000 people in plans for retirees and government workers.
UnitedHealth Group, domiciled in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is the nation's largest health insurer and serves approximately 70 million individuals nationwide.
On the net:
UnitedHealth Group: www.unitedhealthgroup.com
Sierra Health Services Inc: sierrahealth.com
