Nassau Completes Acquisition of Foresters' U.S. Variable Annuity and Variable Life Operations

The company that acquired The Phoenix Companies Inc. has now completed efforts to acquire the U.S. variable annuity and variable life operations of The Independent Order of Foresters.

For the buyer, Nassau Financial Group LP, the announcement means that Nassau now has a bigger presence in the U.S. life and annuity markets.

For Foresters, completing the deal means that the company can now move ahead with efforts to focus more narrowly on sales of protection life insurance to moderate-income families.

The Deal Background

Nassau acquired Foresters Financial Holding Inc. and Foresters Life Insurance and Annuity Company.

The businesses acquired have 112,000 policyholders and $2.5 billion in assets. They have offices in Edison, New Jersey, and New York City.

Foresters ended up with Foresters Financial and Foresters Life in 2011, when it bought a New York-based investment management company, First Investors Consolidated Corp.

Foresters sold the First Investors broker-dealer and advisory business to Cetera in August 2019, and it sold the First Investors mutual fund business to Macquarie Investment Management in October 2019.

Foresters’ Plans

Foresters is a Toronto-based fraternal life insurer that has been focusing on expanding the sale of term life, universal life and whole life in the United States and Canada.

In spite of the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak, life sales for the first five months of the year are 5% higher than in the comparable period in 2019, the company says.

Nassau’s Plans

Nassau is based in Hartford, Connecticut. It has been selling life insurance, fixed annuities and reinsurance. It also distributes insurance and manages assets.

Before it completed the deal with Foresters, it had $24.5 billion in assets.

Phil Gass, Nassau’s CEO, said in a comment on the deal completion that the company is continuing to expand all of its operations.

“This acquisition further demonstrates our continued track record of execution and seamless integration,” Gass said.

Nassau said it plans to merge Foresters Life into Nassau Life Insurance Company, a Nassau life insurance company that has its official state of domicile in New York.