By Colin Kellaher

Shares of Cigna Group rose sharply in premarket trading Monday after The Wall Street Journal reported that the health insurer had ended its pursuit of a blockbuster deal to buy Humana and would instead focus on stock buybacks and smaller acquisitions.

Cigna's efforts to create a $140 billion health-insurance giant ended after the companies couldn't agree on price and other terms, The Journal reports, citing people familiar with the matter.

Cigna on Sunday said it would boost its share-repurchase program by $10 billion and consider bolt-on acquisitions, along with value-enhancing divestitures.

Cigna shares, which had fallen nearly 10% since The Journal reported last month that a potential deal was in the works, were recently up 13% to $293.03 in premarket trading.

Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 11, 2023 06:17 ET (11:17 GMT)

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