Fidelity & Guaranty Life to be sold to Chinese insurance company
November 10, 2015 by Business Record Staff
Beijing-based Anbang Insurance Group Co. Ltd. has reached a definitive merger agreement to buy Fidelity & Guaranty Life for $26.80 per share, according to a release. Reuters valued the deal at nearly $1.6 billion.
Fidelity & Guaranty Life moved its headquarters to downtown Des Moines from Baltimore, Md., in 2013. New York-based HRG Group Inc., the insurer’s majority stockholder, has signed off on the deal, according to a release.
The investment group said in April that it was “exploring strategic alternatives” to its majority ownership of Fidelity & Guaranty Life.
The merger, which is expected to close in the second quarter of 2016, represents a 28.9 percent premium over over Fidelity & Guaranty Life’s $20.79 per share closing price on the New York Stock Exchange on April 6, prior to the announcement that the merger was under strategic review, according to the release.
Anbang has a global network of more than 30 million customers and more than 30,000 employees. Its global businesses cover banking, life insurance, property and casualty insurance, health insurance, pensions, securities, financial leasing and asset management in Belgium, the Netherlands and South Korea.
“After conducting a review of strategic alternatives, we believe this is an excellent transaction that sets (Fidelity & Guaranty Life) on a good path for continued success,” President and CEO Chris Littlefield said in the release.
The deal is pending the approval of regulators, including the Iowa Insurance Division.
Anbang and other Chinese insurers have launched some $6.1 billion of overseas deals this year as they seek to diversify, Reuters said. Among those was Anbang’s purchase earlier this year of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel In New York Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. for $1.95 billion.
Originally Posted at Business Record on November 9, 2015 by Business Record Staff.
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