Local medical software company goes private

Lawyers and executives from a Newport Beach-based medical technology company worked through Thursday night to seal a $1.4 billion deal to take the company private.

Stockholders of TriZetto Group, which designs software that helps health insurance companies more efficiently interact with doctors and patients, will be paid $22 per share. The company’s stock, traded on the NASDAQ, closed the week at $20.39, up more than 15% from Thursday.

TriZetto management hopes the move will help the company focus on long-term goals by eliminating the pressure of stockholders who demand immediate profitability.

“When you hear Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain talk about health-care reform, you realize that it’s not going to be something that happens in a few months,” Loren Finkelstein, a company spokesman, said. “We want to be able to invest in projects that might not see a profit for a year or two.”

Apax Group, an international investment firm that manages $35 billion worldwide, will buy TriZetto, but executives from both companies said that the sale is not an attempt to turn the company in a different direction.

In a meeting Friday morning, TriZetto chief executive Jeff Margolis told employees that business would proceed as usual with no company restructuring on the horizon.

— Alan Blank