Principal Selling Coventry Stake

NU Online News Service, Dec. 3, 11:55 a.m. – Principal Financial Group Inc., Des Moines, Iowa, hopes to raise more than $300 million in the next few months by selling its remaining stake in Coventry Health Care Inc., Bethesda, Md.

Principal wants to sell some of the stock to the public, and some back to Coventry, the company says.

Coventry has filed a registration statement describing the proposed transactions with federal securities regulators, but, at press time, it was not yet available on the Web.

Principal acquired Coventry stock in 1998, when it traded its health insurance operations to Coventry in exchange for stock.

Principal has sold some of the stock over the years, but it still owns 15.2 million shares of stock, along with warrants that give it the right to buy 3.1 million more shares.

Principal now hopes to sell 8.1 million of the shares to the public and investment bankers through a “secondary public stock offering.”