Athene Holding Ltd. to Acquire Liberty Life Insurance Company from Royal Bank of Canada
HAMILTON, Bermuda--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Athene Holding Ltd. is pleased to announce that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Liberty Life Insurance Company, a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada, for a purchase price of $628.1 million. Liberty Life will reinsure its life and health business to Birmingham, Alabama-based Protective Life Insurance Company and a portion of its annuities to Athene Life Re Ltd., a Bermuda based subsidiary of Athene Holding Ltd. 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". Belardi, who was President of SunAmerica Life Insurance Company and Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer of AIG Retirement Services, Inc., founded Athene with sponsorship by a group of institutional investors.
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 (GIC-backed notes ("GICBNs") and funding agreements ("FAs")). 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.
Nomura Securities America, LLC provided investment banking services, Sidley Austin LLP acted as legal advisor and Milliman, Inc. acted as actuarial advisor to Athene Holding Ltd.
Source: Athene Holding Ltd.
Released October 22, 2010