Group led by Greenberg's Starr to buy MultiPlan for $4.4 bln - WSJ

Feb 17 (Reuters) - A group led by former AIG boss Maurice "Hank" Greenberg's Starr Investment Holdings is close to buying health insurance claims processor MultiPlan Inc for about $4.4 billion, the Wall Street Journal said.

The deal could be announced as early as Monday, the newspaper said, quoting people familiar with the matter. ()

Starr Investment Holdings, an affiliate of C.V. Starr & Co, approached MultiPlan owners BC Partners and Silver Lake in November and the two sides negotiated exclusively since then, the newspaper said.

MultiPlan helps manage the claims process for big health insurers and has almost 900,000 healthcare providers under contract, according to its website.

Starr's co-investor in the deal is Swiss investment firm Partners Group, the Wall Street Journal said.

BC Partners and Silver Lake bought MultiPlan in 2010 for about $3.1 billion from rival buyout firms Carlyle Group and Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stow. ()

C.V. Starr, MultiPlan and its private equity owners were not immediately available for comment outside regular U.S. business hours on Monday.