Annuity Issuer F&G Set to Go Public Dec. 1

What You Need to Know

Fidelity National, a title insurer, is giving some F&G stock to its own investors.
F&G sales of annuities and indexed universal life are booming.
The life and annuity issuer posted a profit in the third quarter.

A midsize annuity issuer — F&G Annuities & Life — could get its own listing on the New York Stock exchange Dec. 1.

Fidelity National Financial, the publicly traded, Jacksonville, Florida-based title insurer that now owns F&G, announced Thursday that it will give F&G a separate identity by distributing 15% of F&G’s stock to investors who own Fidelity National stock on Nov. 22.

Fidelity National will keep an 85% stake in F&G.

F&G shares will trade under the stock symbol “FG.”

What It Means

F&G executives may soon have an easier time getting the attention of securities analysts, business news organizations and your clients.

The History

Fidelity National acquired F&G in June 2020. Company executives have said that they are happy with F&G’s performance but would like to see F&G’s success getting more attention from investors.

The Earnings

Fidelity National has been talking about the partial F&G spinoff since April.

The company announced the executive dates for the F&G stock distribution earlier this week, after posting F&G’s earnings for the third quarter, which ended Sept. 30.

Chris Blunt’s Assessment

Chris Blunt, F&G’s CEO, said during Fidelity National’s quarterly analyst call that product retail application flow is up 60%.

“In addition to increased demand from rising interest rates, our retail sales volume reflects expanding relationships with new and existing distribution partners in the agent, bank and broker-dealer channels,” he said. “Momentum, if anything, is accelerating.”

Although rates are rising, Blunt sees no investor rush to replace lower-rate annuities with higher-rate annuities.

Retail investors “are not generally sitting around looking for interest rate arbitrage,” he said. “They kind of wish they had more fixed annuities and fewer ETFs, frankly.”