Centene Corporation to Acquire Arkansas Health Plan Administrator

Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) announced its subsidiary, Celtic Group Inc. (Celtic), has signed a definitive agreement to acquire NovaSys Health, L.L.C. (NovaSys), a leading third party administrator (TPA) in Arkansas. NovaSys clients include Arkansas State employees, public school employees as well as ARHealthNetworks, a hybrid program of which NovaSys is the sole vendor in the state. In addition to traditional TPA services, NovaSys also offers its clients a preferred provider organization (PPO) network of quality hospitals, physicians and ancillary providers (see also Managed Care).

"Our involvement in the Arkansas Medicaid Expansion Program and long-standing relationship with both the State and key healthcare providers in the market make us a natural partner for Centene and Celtic," said NovaSys Chief Executive John Ryan. "Our broad capabilities and experience will allow us to help vertically integrate Celtic's operations in claims processing, as well as strengthen our combined capabilities as a platform for hybrid products, both in Arkansas and other new markets."

The acquisition of NovaSys expands Centene's national presence, increasing to 11 the number of states that the company currently operates in with the addition of Arkansas.

"The expansion of our Celtic operations and its capabilities is consistent with our strategy of effectively deploying capital to enhance our business," added Frederick Manning, Celtic President and Chief Executive Officer. "NovaSys brings both TPA and PPO network capabilities as well as a talented management team that shares the Centene and Celtic philosophy of providing better services at lower costs to our customers."

The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2010 and will be funded out of operating cash flow. Including transaction costs, the Company expects the financial impact of the acquisition will be immaterial in 2010 and accretive to earnings by approximately $0.02 to $0.03 per share on an annual basis.