Canadian Pension Plans Agree to Acquire Another Life Insurer: Deals
The funds' insurance holding company, Constellation, has also agreed to acquire Ohio National.
An insurer that’s owned by two Canadian pension plans has announced its second major U.S. life insurance company acquisition of the year.
Constellation Insurance Holdings Inc. has agreed to help Columbian Mutual Life Insurance Company of Binghamton, New York, shift to a stock charter and invest up to $100 million in cash in exchange for 100% of Columbian Mutual’s stock.
In March, Constellation agreed to acquire another mutual life insurer, Ohio National Financial Services of Cincinnati, for $1 billion.
A mutual insurer is an insurance company that’s owned by some or all of policyholders, rather than by public investors or other outside investors.
The Players
Columbian Mutual was founded in 1882. It now sells life insurance throughout the United States. It has about $1.8 billion in assets and 750,000 policyholders.
Constellation is a 2-year-old company with cash from Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board.
The Deal
The Constellation-Columbian deal calls for Columbian to use the cash that Constellation would provide to fund cash payments to eligible policyholders, and to improve Columbian’s capitalization level and financial ratings.
Constellation said it plans to keep the Columbian brand and operate Columbian as a stand-alone company.
The companies said they expect to close on the deal between July 1, 2022, and Dec. 31, 2022.
Other Deals News
AmeriLife Group LLC has agreed to acquire Maximum Senior Benefits, a Pleasant Grove, Utah-based insurance marketing organization that distributes final expense insurance. Customers use final expense insurance to cover the cost of funerals, burials, cremations and other expenses associated with death.
AmeriLife is an insurance distributor that now has relationships with about 40 IMOs and 200,000 insurance agents.
Maximum Senior Benefits was founded in 2011 and now impacts about 500,000 people every year, according to Justin Haskell, the firm’s CEO.
AmeriLife said it will keep Haskell in the Maximum Senior Benefits CEO post and make the company part of its AmeriLife’s Life & Health Brokerage Distribution group.
Integrity Marketing Group LLC has acquired Montalto United Insurance Agency, an IMO in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.
Integrity Marketing is an insurance distributor that now has relationships with about 370,000 agents and 8 million clients and helps generate about $7 billion in new sales per year.
Montalto United distributes mortgage protection life insurance, final expense life insurance and retirement planning solution. It generates about $25 million in annual paid premium.
Ryan Montalto, Montalto United’s president, will become a managing partner with Integrity.
Deal Consummations
Many companies are announcing the completion of previously announced mergers and acquisitions.
Here are some of the big deals that have closed in the past few days:
- Primerica has acquired 80% of Etelequote Ltd.’s Medicare plan distribution operating subsidies.
- Anthem has acquired MMM Holdings LLC of Puerto Rico, and related health insurance businesses in Puerto Rico, from InnovaCare Health L.P. MMM plans cover 275,000 people with Medicare Advantage plan coverage and 314,000 Medicaid plan enrollees.
- Sun Life Financial, an insurer with a large U.S. medical stop-loss business, has acquired PinnacleCare International, a health care navigation firm.
- Voya Financial has acquired Benefit Strategies LLC, a Manchester, New Hampshire-based company that administers COBRA arrangements, health savings accounts, health reimbursement arrangements and other arrangements for about 3,400 employers and 370,000 plan participants.
(Photo: Luciano Mortula – LGM/Shutterstock)