Update: Fidelity & Guaranty Life Taps Former President, CEO of Former Aviva USA as President
October 8, 2014 by Fran Matso Lysiak
DES MOINES, Iowa – Fidelity & Guaranty Life has named Christopher J. Littlefield, president and chief executive officer of the former Aviva USA Corp., as president.
As president of Fidelity & Guaranty Life, Littlefield will be responsible for several of the company’s operating units, including sales and distribution, Fidelity & Guaranty said in a statement. He will report to Lee Launer, CEO of Fidelity & Guaranty, which sells fixed annuities and life insurance and focused on middle-income Americans.“Having an executive of Chris’ caliber lead a number of key operations will be a tremendous asset for FGL and will allow me to further increase my focus on overall strategy and execution, and engaging with clients, shareholders, strategic partners and other stakeholders,” Launer said in a statement. “As our results show, FGL has made great progress since our IPO last December, and — with a product portfolio perfectly aligned with the needs of today’s middle market — we see compelling opportunities for continued growth and value creation.”
As president and CEO of Aviva USA from February 2009 to October 2013, Littlefield oversaw a business with more than $60 billion in assets and more than 1 million customers. Aviva USA sold indexed universal life insurance and indexed annuities. Littlefield aso previously served as Aviva USA’s chief operating officer.
In October 2013, Athene Holding Ltd. completed its acquisition of Aviva USA Corp. for about $1.55 billion. Aviva USA then became known as Athene USA (Best’s News Service, May 21, 2014).
In December 2013, Fidelity & Guaranty Life, a unit of Harbinger Group Inc., launched its initial public offering of common stock, and the new publicly traded life insurance company’s shares starting trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Earlier, the company said the IPO was expected to raise nearly $200 million. Harbinger Capital Partners, a private equity firm and hedge fund, owns a 39% stake in Harbinger Group (Best’s News Service, Dec. 6, 2013). As of August 2014, Harbinger Capital Partners — through its three funds in aggregate — has about 21% equity interest in Harbinger Group.
Before Aviva USA, Littlefield was executive vice president, general counsel and secretary for AmerUS Group, from January 2006 to February 2008. AmerUS was acquired by the United Kingdom-based Aviva plc in 2006.
Fidelity & Guaranty Life also named James M. Benson, president and CEO of Benson Botsford, to its board of directors, which has been expanded to 10 directors from nine.
Benson previously served as president and CEO of John Hancock Life Insurance Co., the U.S. subsidiary of Canada’s Manulife Financial. He also held leadership positions at MetLife Inc., GenAmerica Financial Corp. and New England Financial. He also served on the board of the former Aviva USA.
On the morning of Oct. 7, Fidelity & Guaranty Life’s (NYSE: FGL) stock was trading at $21.34 a share, up 1.28% from the previous close.
Fidelity & Guaranty Life Insurance Co. currently has a Best’s Financial Strength Rating of B++ (Good).
(By Fran Matso Lysiak, senior associate editor, BestWeek: fran.lysiak@ambest.com)
