Acquisitions · Life insurance
Sumitomo Life buys US insurer Symetra for about $3.8 billion
- Buyer
- Sumitomo Life Insurance (Osaka)
- Target
- Symetra Financial, Bellevue, Washington
- Value
- About $3.8B ($32.00 per share plus a $0.50 special dividend)
- Status
- Agreed on August 11, 2015; completed in February 2016.
- Date
- 2015-08-11
Sumitomo Life Insurance agreed to buy Symetra Financial, a Bellevue, Washington company that provides employee benefits, annuities and life insurance. Symetra shareholders were to receive $32.00 per share in cash plus a previously announced special dividend of $0.50, for a total of about $3.8 billion.
Why it matters
The deal was part of Sumitomo Life's plan to diversify earnings across Asia and the US. Symetra later became the base for Sumitomo Life's further US growth.
About Symetra
Symetra sells its products through a national network of benefits consultants, financial institutions and independent agents and advisors. It was listed on the New York Stock Exchange and had been led by president and CEO Thomas Marra since 2010. Its second-quarter 2015 net income was $31.2 million. On August 11, 2015, its shares rose 6.84% to $31.54.
After the deal
Symetra was to become a wholly owned subsidiary and keep operating from Bellevue. Sumitomo Life planned to retain Symetra's management team, adding some of its own employees and officers, including directors. A.M. Best left the financial strength rating of Symetra's two life and health insurance subsidiaries unchanged at A (Excellent) after the announcement.
Sources
Kakehashi M&A News home
