Davis Polk is advising Aetna in connection with an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice that allows it to proceed with its proposed $77 billion acquisition by CVS Health and its related divestiture of assets to WellCare Health Plans, Inc. The acquisition by CVS Health was announced on December 3, 2017, and since announcement a joint antitrust and corporate team from Davis Polk has advised Aetna on all aspects of the Department of Justice’s investigation of the transaction and this resolution. Under the terms of the DOJ consent decree, closing of CVS’s acquisition of Aetna may proceed prior to the effective date of Aetna’s previously announced divestiture of its entire standalone Medicare Part D business to a subsidiary of WellCare Health Plans, Inc. and is expected to close in the early part of the fourth quarter of 2018.

The Davis Polk antitrust and competition team includes partners Howard Shelanski and Jesse Solomon, counsel Christopher Lynch, associates William D. Pollak and Gregory S. Morrison and law clerk Erik Herron. Partners Oliver Smith and Harold Birnbaum and associates Darren M. Schweiger and Jeffrey Scharfstein are providing corporate advice. Members of the Davis Polk team are based in the Washington DC and New York offices.