(Bloomberg) -- Dan Loeb's Third Point has built a position in Centene Corp. and believes the company should explore a sale, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The position is worth more than $300 million, the person said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. Third Point supports Centene's pending takeover of WellCare Health Plans Inc. but believes the company should run an auction as well to determine whether a sale would unlock greater value for shareholders, the person said.
Two other activist funds, Corvex Management and Sachem Head Capital Management, have also built positions in Centene and are supportive of a similar path, people familiar with the matter have said.
Representatives for Third Point and Centene declined to comment.
Centene agreed to buy WellCare in March for more than $15 billion. In a regulatory filing about the deal, both companies acknowledged holding talks with other parties before announcing the takeover.
WellCare said in the filing that no party other than Centene had made an offer for the company. Centene said that representatives of its board were made aware of such discussions.
Third Point's stake in Centene was reported earlier by the Wall Street Journal.
To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Deveau in New York at sdeveau2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elizabeth Fournier at efournier5@bloomberg.net, Michael Hytha, Matthew Monks
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