FILED BY CENTENE CORPORATION
PURSUANT TO RULE 425 UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
AND DEEMED FILED PURSUANT TO RULE 14a-12
UNDER THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
SUBJECT COMPANY: WELLCARE HEALTH PLANS, INC.
COMMISSION FILE NO. 001-32209
Below are excerpts from Centene Corporation’s earnings call held on July 23, 2019 that relate to Centene’s proposed acquisition of WellCare Health Plans, Inc. There may be immaterial typographical mistakes, inaudible statements, errors, omissions or inaccuracies in the transcript.
Presentation
Michael Neidorff, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining Centene’s second quarter 2019 earnings call. During the course of this morning’s call, we will discuss our second quarter results and provide update on Centene’s markets and products. We will also provide commentary around the healthcare legislative and regulatory environment, as well as an update on the acquisition of WellCare.
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Next year, we plan to expand into 100 counties in existing states and add one more new state, Nevada. We will begin our joint venture with Ascension in four geographies in 2020. Further, Centene will return to a four-star MA parent rating, and the addition of WellCare’s high performing MA portfolio will bolster our MA platform. Going forward, this should accelerate profitable long-term growth into 2020 and beyond.
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I’d now like to provide an update on the acquisition of WellCare. We’re pleased shareholders of both Centene and WellCare voted overwhelmingly to approve the acquisition on June 24th. We appreciate the mandate of our investors as they recognize the value of this transaction. Regulatory discussions are well underway and have been very constructive.
Both companies are currently working through the state insurance approval process required for the completion of the transaction. The required Form As and Es have been filed in 27 states. Conditional approvals have been obtained in eight states, which is ahead of schedule. Where applicable, the divestiture process is underway, and we are pleased to be seeing a great deal of interest and potential acquirers.
Centene and WellCare have each received a request for additional information and documentary materials from the Department of Justice. This was expected given the size of this transaction. Both companies continue to work expeditiously and cooperatively with the DOJ.
Integration planning is well underway. Our teams are doing extensive work to ensure a smooth and seamless combination of the companies. Both companies are fully engaged and the integration planning is progressing well.
We remind you that the combined company will have estimated pro forma 2019 revenues in excess of $100 billion and EBITDA of $5 billion. We are comfortable with our previously communicated synergy and accretion targets. We continue to be comfortable that we will receive all necessary approvals to close the deal in the first half of 2020. Given the progress of activities to date, there may be an opportunity to close earlier in 2020.
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In summary, Centene continues to be a growth company, both organically and through M&A. Our targeted pipeline remains robust. We continue to focus on margin expansion and are already realizing benefits from our Centene Forward transformation project. The pending WellCare acquisition firmly solidifies our 2020 vision of maintaining our industry-leading position in the highly competitive government-sponsored healthcare market. We look forward to leveraging the strength each company brings in terms of providing high quality healthcare at lower cost to our recipients and state customers.
Questions and Answers
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Joshua Raskin, Analyst, Nephron Research LLC
And then my real question is just from a strategic standpoint, Michael, you alluded to the potential to close WellCare slightly earlier than it sounded like by the end of the first half of next year. It sounds like you’re seeing some progress on the regulatory front that gives you some comfort there. So my question on that is, does that do anything strategically, as you think about the Medicare Advantage line, any other investments, or branding, or your M&A strategy, or anything along those lines that change based on your ability to potentially close the transaction faster?
Michael Neidorff
Well, I think that, okay, one, I mean, your first thing was right, we’re seeing a lot of success with the states, they understand it, we’ve had good discussions with Justice, we understand their role and what they have to do and providing them all the material on an expeditious basis. So – and I want to just cautiously let people know it’s going well enough that it could close earlier. Now, the sooner it closes and we get the company integrated, the sooner we’re prepared to move ahead with some accelerated activity we have in mind, but we’re going to be patient and manage it through carefully after we’ve demonstrated this is fully integrated. We’re not going to bite off more than we can chew and we know how to integrate companies, we’ve demonstrated that. And so anything that picks up that speed just puts us in a position to do something sooner.
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Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Statements
All statements, other than statements of current or historical fact, contained in this communication are forward-looking statements. Without limiting the foregoing, forward-looking statements often use words such as “believe,” “anticipate,” “plan,” “expect,” “estimate,” “intend,” “seek,” “target,” “goal,” “may,” “will,” “would,” “could,” “should,” “can,” “continue” and other similar words or expressions (and the negative thereof). In particular, these statements include, without limitation, statements about Centene’s future operating or financial performance, market opportunity, growth strategy, competition, expected activities in completed and future acquisitions, including statements about the impact of Centene’s proposed acquisition of WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (the “WellCare Transaction”), Centene’s recent acquisition (the “Fidelis Care Transaction”) of substantially all the assets of New York State Catholic Health Plan, Inc., d/b/a Fidelis Care New York (“Fidelis Care”), investments and the adequacy of Centene’s available cash resources.
These forward-looking statements reflect Centene’s current views with respect to future events and are based on numerous assumptions and assessments made by us in light of Centene’s experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions, business strategies, operating environments, future developments and other factors Centene believes appropriate. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are subject to change because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future, including economic, regulatory, competitive and other factors that may cause Centene’s or its industry’s actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions.
All forward-looking statements included in this filing are based on information available to us on the date of this communication. Except as may be otherwise required by law, Centene undertakes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements included in this communication, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this filing. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, as actual results may differ materially from projections, estimates, or other forward-looking statements due to a variety of important factors, variables and events including, but not limited to, the following: (i) the risk that regulatory or other approvals required for the WellCare Transaction may be delayed or not obtained or are obtained subject to conditions that are not anticipated that could require the exertion of management’s time and Centene’s resources or otherwise have an adverse effect on Centene; (ii) the possibility that certain conditions to the consummation of the WellCare Transaction will not be satisfied or completed on a timely basis and accordingly the WellCare Transaction may not be consummated on a timely basis or at all; (iii) uncertainty as to the expected financial performance of the combined company following completion of the WellCare Transaction; (iv) the possibility that the expected synergies and value creation from the WellCare Transaction will not be realized, or will not be realized within the expected time period; (v) the exertion of management’s time and Centene’s resources, and other expenses incurred and business changes required, in connection with complying with the undertakings in connection with any regulatory, governmental or third party consents or approvals for the WellCare Transaction; (vi) the risk that unexpected costs will be incurred in connection with the completion and/or integration of the WellCare Transaction or that the integration of WellCare will be more difficult or time consuming than expected; (vii) the risk that potential litigation in connection with the WellCare Transaction may affect the timing or occurrence of the WellCare Transaction or result in significant costs of defense, indemnification and liability; (viii) a downgrade of the credit rating of Centene’s indebtedness, which could give rise to an obligation to redeem existing indebtedness; (ix) unexpected costs, charges or expenses resulting from the WellCare Transaction; (x) the inability to retain key personnel; (xi) disruption from the announcement, pendency and/or completion of the WellCare Transaction, including potential adverse reactions or changes to business relationships with customers, employees, suppliers or regulators, making it more difficult to maintain business and operational relationships; and (xii) the risk that, following the WellCare Transaction, the combined company may not be able to effectively manage its expanded operations.
Additional factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from projections, estimates, or other forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the following: (i) Centene’s ability to accurately predict and effectively manage health benefits and other operating expenses and reserves; (ii) competition; (iii) membership and revenue declines or unexpected trends; (iv) changes in healthcare practices, new technologies, and advances in medicine; (v) increased healthcare costs, (vi) changes in economic, political or market conditions; (vii) changes in federal or state laws or regulations, including changes with respect to income tax reform or government healthcare programs as well as changes with respect to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act, collectively referred to as the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”), and any regulations enacted thereunder that may result from changing political conditions or judicial actions, including the ultimate outcome of the District Court decision in “Texas v. United States of America” regarding the constitutionality of the ACA; (viii) rate cuts or other payment reductions or delays by governmental payors and other risks and uncertainties affecting Centene’s government businesses; (ix) Centene’s ability to adequately price products on federally facilitated and state-based Health Insurance Marketplaces; (x) tax matters; (xi) disasters or major epidemics; (xii) the outcome of legal and regulatory proceedings; (xiii) changes in expected contract start dates; (xiv) provider, state, federal and other contract changes and timing of regulatory approval of contracts; (xv) the expiration, suspension, or termination of Centene’s contracts with federal or state governments (including but not limited to Medicaid, Medicare, TRICARE or other customers); (xvi) the difficulty of predicting the timing or outcome of pending or future litigation or government investigations; (xvii) challenges to Centene’s contract awards; (xviii) cyber-attacks or other privacy or data security incidents; (xix) the possibility that the expected synergies and value creation from acquired businesses, including, without limitation, the Fidelis Care Transaction, will not be realized, or will not be realized within the expected time period; (xx) the exertion of management’s time and Centene’s resources, and other expenses incurred and business changes required in connection with complying with the undertakings in connection with any regulatory, governmental or third party consents or approvals for acquisitions, including the Fidelis Care Transaction; (xxi) disruption caused by significant completed and pending acquisitions, including, among others, the Fidelis Care Transaction, making it more difficult to maintain business and operational relationships; (xxii) the risk that unexpected costs will be incurred in connection with the completion and/or integration of acquisition transactions, including, among others, the Fidelis Care Transaction; (xxiii) changes in expected closing dates, estimated purchase price and accretion for acquisitions; (xxiv) the risk that acquired businesses, including Fidelis Care, will not be integrated successfully; (xxv) the risk that, following the Fidelis Care Transaction, Centene may not be able to effectively manage its expanded operations; (xxvi) restrictions and limitations in connection with Centene’s indebtedness; (xxvii) Centene’s ability to maintain the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Star ratings and maintain or achieve improvement in other quality scores in each case that can impact revenue and future growth; (xxviii) availability of debt and equity financing, on terms that are favorable to us; (xxix) inflation; and (xxx) foreign currency fluctuations.
This list of important factors is not intended to be exhaustive. We discuss certain of these matters more fully, as well as certain other factors that may affect Centene’s business operations, financial condition and results of operations, in Centene’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including the registration statement on Form S-4 filed by Centene with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 23, 2019 (the “Registration Statement”), and Centene’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K. Due to these important factors and risks, Centene cannot give assurances with respect to Centene’s future performance, including without limitation Centene’s ability to maintain adequate premium levels or Centene’s ability to control its future medical and selling, general and administrative costs.
Important Additional Information and Where to Find It
In connection with the WellCare Transaction, on May 23, 2019, Centene filed with the SEC the Registration Statement, which included a prospectus with respect to the shares of Centene’s common stock to be issued in the WellCare Transaction and a joint proxy statement for Centene’s and WellCare’s respective stockholders (the “Joint Proxy Statement”). The SEC declared the Registration Statement effective on May 23, 2019, and the Joint Proxy Statement was first mailed to stockholders of Centene and WellCare on or about May 24, 2019. Each of Centene and WellCare may file other documents regarding the WellCare Transaction with the SEC. This communication is not a substitute for the Registration Statement, the Joint Proxy Statement or any other document that Centene or WellCare may send to their respective stockholders in connection with the WellCare Transaction. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS OF CENTENE AND WELLCARE ARE URGED TO READ THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT, THE JOINT PROXY STATEMENT AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS (INCLUDING ANY AMENDMENTS OR SUPPLEMENTS THERETO) FILED WITH THE SEC CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN OR WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT CENTENE, WELLCARE, THE WELLCARE TRANSACTION AND RELATED MATTERS. Investors and security holders of Centene and WellCare are able to obtain free copies of the Registration Statement, the Joint Proxy Statement and other documents (including any amendments or supplements thereto) containing important information about Centene and WellCare through the website maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov. Centene and WellCare make available free of charge at www.centene.com and www.ir.wellcare.com, respectively, copies of materials they file with, or furnish to, the SEC.
No Offer or Solicitation
This communication is for informational purposes only and does not constitute, or form a part of, an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to sell or an offer to buy or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, and there shall be no sale of securities, in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No offer of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and otherwise in accordance with applicable law.
