Aetna Insurance Co

Aetna Inc. agreed to sell its financial services and international businesses to Dutch insurance and banking giant ING Group for $5 billion in cash, allowing the nation's largest health insurer to focus on its ailing health-care business. ING also would assume $2.7 billion in Aetna debt. The acquisition would make ING the largest life insurance and annuity broker in the U.S. in terms of premiums and the No. 6 insurer in terms of assets. Shares of Hartford, Conn.

Aetna Inc. posted second-quarter results well beyond analysts' expectations as the health insurer curbed rising costs and dropped customers who were the most costly to insure. The company also raised earnings estimates for 2002. Net income was $108.2 million, or 70 cents a share, including investment gains and a benefit for overestimating prior medical costs, up from $10.6 million, or 7 cents, a year earlier. Operating profit, which excludes all one-time items, was $49.

Aetna Inc. completed its purchase of Prudential Health Care to become the nation's largest health maintenance organization. The deal was consummated when New Jersey became the last state to approve the merger. As several states have done, New Jersey forced Aetna to meet several conditions, including promising to keep 90% of Prudential's doctors for the next three years. The American Medical Assn.

Aetna Inc., which lost $279.6 million last year, said investor Herbert Denton was mounting a proxy challenge after helping oust a previous chief executive at the second-biggest U.S. health insurer. Providence Investors, led by Denton, has nominated a slate of candidates for three board seats, according to a filing Aetna made with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Providence owns 1,000 shares of Aetna stock, the filing said. Denton, president of Providence Capital Inc.

Aetna Inc., the biggest U.S. health insurer, said U.S. regulators are reviewing its acquisitions, including this year's $1-billion purchase of a Prudential Insurance Co. of America unit, to determine if it properly accounted for costs. The Securities and Exchange Commission review is the latest in a series of problems with the Prudential HealthCare acquisition, which took half a year to pass regulatory muster and is losing money at a rate equal to $175 million a year.

Shares of Aetna Inc., the largest U.S. health insurer, fell 8% to a 52-week low after the company told investors that losses are accelerating at its newly purchased Prudential HealthCare unit. Aetna purchased the unit for $1 billion in August from Prudential Insurance Co. of America, which will pick up most of the losses through 2000. The unit lost $50 million in the first nine months of 1998 and is now losing $200 million a year, analysts said.

A federal judge in Miami let lawsuits go forward that accuse Aetna Inc., Cigna Corp., Humana Inc. and other health insurers of limiting medical care in order to boost profit, though he dismissed some claims for now. U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno threw out parts of the patient suits, yet allowed the plaintiffs to resubmit their major claims. The judge also set a July 24 hearing on whether the suits qualify for class-action status.

Aetna Inc. continued to pay a high price for its status as the nation's largest health insurer as it announced Thursday a fourth-quarter loss--its fourth straight quarter of red ink--that was worse than Wall Street analysts had expected. The 148-year-old Hartford, Conn.-based company reported an operating loss of $84.6 million or 59 cents a share in the quarter, excluding charges related to layoffs and a restructuring announced in December.

Cendant Corp. said its third-quarter profit rose 19% on higher revenue from Ramada hotels and other travel-related businesses and from its real estate businesses, including Coldwell Banker and Century 21. The company said earnings for the quarter rose to $203.9 million, or 24 cents a share, a penny higher than analysts expected, as revenue rose 23% to $1.46 billion. Cendant, created by the merger of HFS Inc.

* U.S. District Judge Robert Kelleher in Los Angeles dismissed a lawsuit that accused Aetna Chairman Richard L. Huber of defaming a California attorney by calling him an "ambulance-chasing lawyer." Kelleher said Huber's remarks were protected by the 1st Amendment. Huber made the comment about Michael J. Bidart after the Claremont attorney won a $120.5-million judgment against the health insurer on behalf of a man who died of stomach cancer.

Aetna Inc. continued to pay a high price for its status as the nation's largest health insurer as it announced Thursday a fourth-quarter loss--its fourth straight quarter of red ink--that was worse than Wall Street analysts had expected. The 148-year-old Hartford, Conn.-based company reported an operating loss of $84.6 million or 59 cents a share in the quarter, excluding charges related to layoffs and a restructuring announced in December.

Aetna Inc., the largest U.S. health insurer, Wednesday posted a wider-than-expected loss as it struggles with dozens of problems stemming from rapid expansion and underpriced insurance plans. Hit by rising medical costs its biggest rivals have been able to overcome, Hartford, Conn.-based Aetna reported an operating loss that more than doubled from its first-quarter loss.

A federal judge in Miami let lawsuits go forward that accuse Aetna Inc., Cigna Corp., Humana Inc. and other health insurers of limiting medical care in order to boost profit, though he dismissed some claims for now. U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno threw out parts of the patient suits, yet allowed the plaintiffs to resubmit their major claims. The judge also set a July 24 hearing on whether the suits qualify for class-action status.

Aetna Inc. is paying millions of dollars for people whose benefits have expired because its record keeping is poor, the chief executive of the biggest U.S. health insurer told investors Thursday. Aetna, which lost $36.6 million from operations in the first quarter, is trying to fix the problem quickly, John Rowe said at a Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. conference. Rowe said a new records system may be in place in 40 days.

Aetna Inc., the largest U.S. health insurer, said it's open to discussing changes in its managed-care plans to settle a lawsuit that alleges the company engaged in illegal business practices. The Wall Street Journal said settlement talks are being conducted in New York and have reached an advanced stage. An Aetna spokeswoman declined to comment on the talks.

Aetna Inc., the No. 1 U.S. health insurer, said Friday its second-quarter profit fell 17% because of rising medical costs and more hospital visits by the people it insures. The company said it plans to increase premiums by an average of 13% on business being renewed in the fourth quarter to address the costs. Health plans this year have raised premiums an average of 5% to 10%.

Aetna's Earnings Rise 49%: The Hartford, Conn.-based insurer said its second-quarter earnings increase was primarily because of higher profit in its growing health insurance business. The firm said profit from continuing operations climbed to $166.2 million, or $1.43 a share, from $111.7 million, or 99 cents, a year earlier. Health insurance accounted for about half of the latest quarter's profit. With U.S.

Aetna Earnings Down 43% in 3rd Quarter: The drop came as Aetna continued to transform itself from a property-casualty insurer into a managed-care provider. Aetna earned $122.4 million, or 77 cents a share, for the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with earnings of $212.1 million, or $1.86, a year ago. . . . New products and growing foreign markets boosted 3M's third-quarter earnings 17.4% to $398 million, or 95 cents a share, compared with $344 million, or 82 cents, a year ago. . . .

Aetna Inc. agreed to sell its financial services and international businesses to Dutch insurance and banking giant ING Group for $5 billion in cash, allowing the nation's largest health insurer to focus on its ailing health-care business. ING also would assume $2.7 billion in Aetna debt. The acquisition would make ING the largest life insurance and annuity broker in the U.S. in terms of premiums and the No. 6 insurer in terms of assets. Shares of Hartford, Conn.

A warning by Aetna Inc., the nation's largest health insurer, that second-quarter profit won't meet Wall Street's expectations sent the company's shares plunging Tuesday and sparked a broad sell-off in health-care providers' shares. Aetna, like many other insurers, had seen its stock rally sharply in recent months on optimism that rising health-care premiums would boost earnings significantly.