China Oceanwide Is 'Progressing Well' Toward Getting Deal Funding: Genworth

Genworth Financial said Monday that it’s going to keep moving forward with efforts to be acquired by China Oceanwide Holdings Group Co. Ltd., because it believes China Oceanwide has provided satisfactory information about its deal funding efforts.

Resources

• A copy of the China Oceanwide-Genworth deal transaction update is available here.
• An article that refers to China Oceanwide’s deal financing efforts is available here.

“Genworth therefore does not intend to exercise its right to terminate the merger agreement as of Aug. 31,” Genworth and China Oceanwide said  in a joint transaction status update.

The Background

Genworth is a Richmond, Virginia-based company that was formed from the insurance operations of GE Capital It was once one of the largest life, annuity and long-term care insurance (LTCI) issuers in the United States. It still has large amounts of life, annuity and LTCI business on its books, and it’s still a significant player in the mortgage insurance markets in the United States and Australia.

China Oceanwide is a Beijing-based real estate developer and financial services companies. It has had major projects all around the world, including in New York, San Francisco, Honolulu and Wuhan.

It began trying to acquire Genworth, for $2.7 billion, in October 2016, when relations between China and the United States were warmer and COVID-19 was not an issue.

Genworth and China Oceanwide say China Oceanwide is having to work to nail down funding partly because U.S. regulatory approvals took so long that some of the original funding arrangements expired.

Genworth and China Oceanwide have extended their deal completion deadline 15 times.

In July, Genworth said it had an option to walk away from the deal on Aug. 31 if China Oceanwide failed to show that it had deal funding.

The New Announcement

Genworth said in the new announcement that its board and management team agree that China Oceanwide has provided satisfactory information regarding its deal funding plan.

The companies said, in a discussion of factors that could throw off forward-looking statements, that one risk is that China Oceanwide will be unable to raise the funding needed to complete the Genworth deal in a timely manner.

But James Riepe, who’s Genworth’s chairman, said in a comment included in the announcement that he and Tom McInerney, Genworth’s chief executive officer, have been in regular discussions with China Oceanwide about the deal funding efforts.

“Based on these discussions and the information provided by Oceanwide, we believe the funding is progressing well,” Riepe said.

McInerney said Genworth is pleased with the progress China Oceanwide has made towards securing the financing necessary to fund the transaction.

“I look forward to continuing our productive conversations with Oceanwide and working together to reach a timely and successful closing,” McInerney said.

Lu Zhiqiang, China Oceanwide’s chairman, said in a comment of his own that his company continues to believe in the value of bringing long-term care insurance expertise to China and the rest of Asia.

“We are pleased that, despite the constraints imposed by the global pandemic, we have been making very good progress to finalize the financing plan so that we can meet the Sept. 30, 2020, closing date,” Lu said.

Once China Oceanwide completes efforts to secure funding, it needs to get permission from Chinese regulators to convert the currency and transfer the funds needed to close on the purchase, according to Genworth and China Oceanwide.

— Read Genworth Aims to Line Up Backup Financing Options, on ThinkAdvisor.

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