Lincoln Financial to Buy Liberty Life Assurance for $3.3 Billion
January 19, 2018 by Cara Lombardo
Wealth adviser and insurer Lincoln Financial Group on Friday said it agreed to buy Liberty Life Assurance Co. of Boston from Liberty Mutual Insurance Group for $3.3 billion.
Lincoln plans to retain Liberty’s group-benefits business and reinsure Liberty’s individual life and annuity business to Protective Life Insurance Co.
Lincoln said the deal will significantly increase its group benefits operations, increasing its share of the fully insured disability sales market to 14%.
The sale price includes $1.45 billion for Liberty Life’s group benefits business, $1.2 billion associated with excess capital in the company, $410 million of individual life and annuity value paid by Protective Life, and $211 million of tax-related items.
Lincoln said the acquisition, which it expects will add to adjusted per-share earnings in 2019, should close in the second quarter.
Write to Cara Lombardo at cara.lombardo@wsj.com