UnitedHealth Group has reached a deal to sell its Latin American business Banmedica for $1 billion, according to media reports.
Sources told Reuters that the healthcare giant will sell the unit to a Brazilian private equity group called Patria Investments, with the deal inked Saturday. Banmedica, which operates in Colombia and Chile, is the company's last segment based in South America, and a sale has been in the works for about a year, according to the article.
That a deal was potentially in the works was first reported in June by Reuters. UnitedHealth has been working to shed its South American businesses for the past several years, confirming a sale of its Brazilian unit Amil in late 2023.
Banmedica included 1.7 million health plan members, seven hospitals and 47 medical centers as of June, Reuters reported.
UnitedHealth incurred a $7 billion charge in selling Amil, and Reuters reported that it also logged a $1.2 billion loss related to Banmedica.
The company has been pushing toward a turnaround over the past year after posting its first earnings miss in years with its first-quarter results. Former CEO Stephen Hemsley returned to the helm of the company in May when Andrew Witty chose to step down, and Hemsley has spent much of the year working to right the ship.
UnitedHealth made several shifts at the top of the executive team under Hemsley and is conducting a broad repricing effort at UnitedHealthcare. The company is also diving deep into the strategy at key Optum divisions like Optum Health and Optum Insight.