Amerigroup Corp., headquartered in Virginia Beach, Va., announced that it completed a deal with Centene Corp. for the assets of its University Health Plans.

The acquisition, effective March 1, gives Amerigroup control of the Medicaid assets of UHP, Centene’s New Jersey subsidiary.

The deal was originally announced in November 2008 and in October 2009, a settlement agreement was reached to resolve litigation regarding the transaction. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Centene, based in St. Louis, Mo., had filed suit against Amerigroup in January 2009 after the latter company 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 stop the deal from moving forward.

Centene’s South Carolina subsidiary, Absolute Health Care, added 14,000 members from Amerigroup Community Care of South Carolina, as of March 1, 2009, under a separate deal.

Amerigroup provides publicly funded health care in 11 states, including Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia.