BlackRock will take the majority ownership stake in a venture that owns nearly 150 senior primary care clinics, replacing private equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (WCAS) in a deal valued at about $2.8 billion. Humana’s CenterWell division will keep a minority stake and continue to manage and operate every clinic. The investor changes; the operator doesn’t.
Who Holds the Stake
Humana said the arrangement will provide growth capital, lower its cost of capital and significantly reduce liabilities on its balance sheet. Those are the company’s stated financial reasons for the transaction. The clinics sit inside a joint venture, and its majority owner will change hands, while CenterWell keeps responsibility for management and operations. For the companies, the deal redraws the ownership arrangement without changing which division runs the clinics.
The $2.8 billion figure describes the value of WCAS’s stake, not cash proceeds announced for Humana, said Evercore ISI analyst Elizabeth Anderson. “The $2.8 billion represents the value of WCAS's stake rather than announced proceeds to HUM,” Anderson said. The figure attached to the deal marks the stake changing hands—not announced money going to Humana.
Anderson said the transition “grants HUM more time to further develop the portfolio of clinics (and raise profitability) and further delay the date they have to exercise their option.” Her explanation puts profitability and the timing of Humana’s future choice at the center of the deal. The clinics are treated as a portfolio to develop, with ownership and future purchases arranged on a timetable set by the joint venture’s terms.
Options Set the Timetable
Starting in 2028, CenterWell will have the option to purchase clinics from the joint venture. That’s an option, not a requirement to buy them all at that point. The division can decide whether to acquire clinics under the arrangement, while the venture continues to hold those it hasn’t purchased.
If CenterWell hasn’t acquired all the clinics by the end of 2033, BlackRock can exit through a sale process. CenterWell will have the right to submit the first offer. The terms give BlackRock a defined route out if the clinics remain in the venture, and give CenterWell priority to make an offer before that sale proceeds. The deal’s future is organized around investment choices by the companies, not a community decision-making process described in the announcement.
A Second Deal With BlackRock
This is Humana’s second strategic deal with BlackRock this year. The companies previously agreed to divest Humana’s minority stake in Gentiva, a provider of hospice and palliative care services, to an investor consortium that includes BlackRock. The latest agreement adds another Humana-related transaction involving BlackRock and an ownership stake in care services.
The clinic transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals. Humana said it isn’t expected to have a material impact on its 2026 adjusted earnings guidance. The announcement describes the corporate ownership terms, the financial rationale and the future options for the companies. It reports no grassroots organizing, mutual aid or direct action connected to the clinics; the decisions it details belong to Humana, CenterWell, BlackRock and the joint venture’s investors.