WALL STREET PAYDAY: Here's how much bankers will earn from the $67 billion Cigna-Express Scripts deal

• Cigna on Thursday announced a $67 billion takeover of Express Scripts .
• The banks that worked on the deal are expected to earn as much as $200 million.
• The healthcare deals wave has produced as much as $500 million in fees for banks this year.

---

The healthcare consolidation wave continues .

On Thursday, health insurer Cigna announced a $67 billion takeover of Express Scripts , a pharmacy benefit manager that helps negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs in the form of rebates on behalf of health plans .

The deal for Express Scripts , the last standalone of the three massive PBMs, includes $52 billion in cash and stock and $15 billion in assumption of debt.

Investment bankers will add to a growing pile of fees in 2018 stemming from the industry's mergers-and-acquisitions boom.

The bankers running the massive tie-up could earn as much as $200 million for advising on the deal, according to Jeffrey Nassof, director of the consulting firm Freeman & Co.

Morgan Stanley was the sole adviser to Cigna and is expected to pull in between $80 million and $100 million in deal fees, according to Nassof.

Boutique Centerview Partners and independent Lazard advised Express Scripts, and they're expected to split fees of $80 million to $100 million.

That brings the total fees from healthcare deals in 2018 - which include Sanofi's $11.6 billion buyout of Bioverativ and Celgene's $9 billion acquisition of Juno Therapeutics - to as much as $500 million, assuming the deals close, according to Nassof.

The total at this point in 2016 and 2017 was $350 million.