Dai-ichi Life’s US subsidiary Protective Life has agreed to acquire almost all of the individual life insurance and annuity business of Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance (GWL&A) in a reinsurance deal worth around $1.2bn.
Image: Protective Life is the US subsidiary of Dai-ichi Life. Photo: courtesy of Protective Life Corporation.
The deal marks the foray of Protective Life into the executive benefits market.
As per the terms of the agreement, Protective Life’s subsidiaries Protective Life Insurance and Protective Life & Annuity Insurance acquire a business marketed under the Great-West Financial brand.
Included in the transaction are bank-owned and corporate-owned life insurance, single premium life insurance, individual annuities along with a part of the closed block life insurance and annuities of Great-West.
Protective president and CEO Richard Bielen said: “This business aligns well with our long-term plans for growth and scale. The life and annuity business has been a cornerstone of Protective throughout our history and will continue to be an area of future growth for the company.
“Together, Great-West and Protective bring strength and stability to this transaction with a shared focus on serving people and doing the right thing – for our employees, our distributors, and most importantly, our customers.”
The transaction will exclude a small block of participating life insurance policies, which will be retained by GWL&A. It will be administered by Protective after the closing of the deal, which will be the largest acquisition in the company’s history.
Also the retirement and investment management divisions of GWL&A – Empower Retirement and Great-West Investments are not a part of the transaction.
GWL&A is an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian financial services firm Great-West Lifeco.
GWL&A CEO Robert Reynolds said: “The combined strength of the businesses built by Great-West and Protective creates new opportunities for our customers who will now be very well served by Protective.
“Our team is committed to ensuring a seamless transition to Protective for our customers who will continue to benefit from the product solutions we’ve developed to meet their needs.”
Subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions, the transaction is anticipated to be completed in the first half of this year.