Athene To Buy Liberty Life For $628 Million
Bermuda-based Athene Holding Ltd has signed an agreement to acquire Liberty Life Insurance Company, a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada, for $628.1 million, which is less than Royal paid for the business a decade ago.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close in early 2011.
Jim Belardi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Athene Holding Ltd., said the acquisition of Liberty Life is “a major step in growing our fixed annuity business. Liberty Life has a $2.8 billion block of fixed annuities, insurance licenses in 49 states and a substantial footprint in the United States”.
Athene Holding Ltd. is the parent company of Athene Life Re Ltd., a Bermuda-based reinsurer focused on the retirement services market, and Athene Life Insurance Company, an Indiana domiciled stock life insurance company focused on the institutional funding markets and funding agreements. Athene’s core business is reinsuring fixed annuities and issuing GICBNs and FAs and investing in a diversified portfolio of highly-rated, liquid fixed income securities.
As of August 31, 2010, Athene Life Re Ltd. had $139 million of capital and surplus supporting approximately $1.1 billion of liabilities.
