ANTHEM TO GO PUBLIC AND SAID TO BE CONSIDERING ACQUISITIONS

US health insurer Anthem Insurance, which was founded as Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Indiana, plans to go public by the end of this year, the Wall Street Journal reports in its online edition today. The company provides insurance to 7m people in the US. Chief executive Larry Glasscock was quoted as saying that “the industry is consolidating and we want to be sure we have the financial resources to create a larger company” — which the newspaper said indicated that the company was considering using the proceeds of the offering to make acquisitions.