FILE PHOTO: People walk by a CVS Pharmacy store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., November 30, 2017. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo

NEW YORK (Reuters) - CVS Health Inc CVS.N said on Friday that it plans to keep Aetna Inc's AET.N headquarters in Connecticut after it completes its $69 billion acquisition of the U.S. health insurer.

“We have no plans to relocate Aetna’s operations from Hartford and, in fact, view Hartford as the future location of our center of excellence for the insurance business,” CVS spokeswoman Carolyn Castel said in an email.

CVS will continue to be headquartered in Rhode Island. The company’s CEO met with Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy as well as Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin on Thursday.

Aetna had said last year that it planned to move its corporate headquarters to New York in 2018.

CVS struck its deal to buy Aetna last month, combining one of the nation’s largest pharmacy benefits managers and pharmacy operators with one of its oldest health insurers, whose national business ranges from employer healthcare to government plans.