PacifiCare to Close Utah Unit if It Doesn’t Sell

PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. said it will close its money-losing Utah operation if it can’t find a buyer for the unit that it took over in February as part of a $2.2-billion acquisition of rival FHP International Inc.

PacifiCare said it hasn’t found prospective buyers or set a deadline for when it would close the unit.

Losses from the Utah business will trim 8 cents to 10 cents a share from earnings each quarter until it’s sold, the Santa Ana-based operator of health maintenance organizations said last week.

“If we could not find a buyer, we would then have to engage in a wind-down,” said Alan Hoops, PacifiCare’s president and chief executive.