Veritas, Carlyle end talks on Cotiviti stake sale - source

(Reuters) -Veritas Capital ended talks with Carlyle Group Inc to buy a 50% stake in private healthcare technology firm Cotiviti Inc on valuation grounds, a source familiar with the matter said.

Carlyle wasn't ready to stick to the valuation that had previously been discussed in the current market conditions and submitted a revised bid in recent days, which Veritas rejected, the source said.

In February, Reuters reported that Carlyle was in talks to buy a portion of Cotiviti from Veritas Capital at a valuation of around $15 billion.

Cotiviti, which went public in 2016, was acquired by Veritas in 2018 in a take-private deal valued at $4.9 billion, as the private equity firm looked to expand its Verscend healthcare IT business.

Carlyle and Veritas declined to comment, while Cotiviti did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment.

(Reporting by David Carnevali in New York and Nilutpal Timsina in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Uttaresh Venkateshwaran)