Virginia Beach, Va.-based Amerigroup Corp. has finalized a deal to sell the assets of its South Carolina health plan to Centene Corp.

Centene’s South Carolina subsidiary, Absolute Health Care, will add 14,000 members from Amerigroup Community Care of South Carolina, effective March 1, according to the companies.

With the transaction, Absolute Total Care will begin serving members in the Healthy Connections Kids program, South Carolina’s stand-alone State Children’s Health Insurance Program to expand eligibility for qualifying uninsured children.

“We are pleased to close this transaction and expand operations in South Carolina,” Mark W. Eggert, Centene’s executive vice president, said in a statement. “The addition of the SCHIP product further strengthens our strategic position in the State and positions us for future organic growth.”

The two companies remain in a legal battle over Centene’s filing of a civil suit against Amerigroup in January, after the Virginia insurer terminated a deal to buy managed care services for Medicaid members in New Jersey.

Amerigroup said it was simply exercising an option in a preliminary agreement to end the deal, but Centene says it believes the termination was “invalid,” according to the company.