(Bloomberg)–Anthem Inc. is near an agreement to buy rival Cigna Corp. for about $48 billion, two people with knowledge of the matter said. A deal would create the largest health insurer in the U.S. after almost a year of talks.

Anthem will pay $187 a share for Cigna, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. That compares with its most recent offer of $184 a share. Cigna closed Wednesday at $151.07 in New York, for a market value of about $39 billion. An announcement could come later this week, the people said.

"It was a reasonably good price to begin with," Ana Gupte, an analyst at Leerink Partners in New York, said Wednesday in a phone interview. "Shareholders were happy with $184 even. And they were telling Anthem and Cigna to resolve their differences and get the deal done."