FILE PHOTO: The logo for WageWorks are displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., May 21, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

(Reuters) - HealthEquity Inc on Tuesday confirmed its offer to acquire WageWorks Inc in a deal valuing the administrator of employee benefits at about $2.01 billion.

The offer of $50.50 per share represents a 17.3 percent premium to WageWorks’ Monday close.

The acquisition would create a larger provider of health savings accounts and additional consumer-directed benefits including flexible spending, health reimbursement plans and commuter accounts, HealthEquity said.

It is currently responsible for about 4 million health savings accounts and connects health, retirement and other benefit plan providers with employees at more than 45,000 companies.

Last year, WageWorks had announced financial restatements and several changes to its top executive line-up after probe into weakness in internal controls.

Shares of WageWorks were up 13.9 percent to $49.01, while HealthEquity was down 6.5 percent to $68.2.

HealthEquity said the proposal was submitted to WageWorks on April 11, 2019.

Reuters on Monday reported that HealthEquity had approached WageWorks, which has a market value of about $1.72 billion, with the offer.

(This story corrects paragraph 5 to say “last year”, not “earlier this month”)