Guggenheim Life, the underwriting business unit of Guggenheim Partners, is gearing up to acquire some, or all, of Aviva US, for expected purchase price of £800m ($1.25bn).
With $160bn assets, Guggenheim has plans to increase its footprint in the US fixed-annuity business and is reportedly engaged in discussion with Goldman Sachs, which is advising Aviva on the process, as reported by the Sunday Telegraph.
The UK based insurer Aviva had estimated the value of its US unit by £876m, with £456m loss in the half-year of 2012 results and is believed working on to dispose the unit to restructure its capital base and boost financial performance.
Sources familiar with the matter told the news agency that a deal pertaining to the acquisition is expected to be announced within the next two weeks.
Guggenheim Life had purchased EquiTrust Life from FBL Financial in October 2011.