Top 10 Life and Annuity Deals of 2022, So Far

COVID-19, rising interest rates, a war in Europe and accounting rule change shock have put the brakes on U.S. life and annuity issuer dealmaking so far this year. At press time, life and annuity issuers had not published the values of any large, conventional mergers or acquisitions. Issuers had announced four reinsurance deals associated with about $56 billion in assets, reserves and account value, and $2 billion in stock distributions related to partial spinoffs of multiline insurers' life and annuity businesses. Life and annuity distributors had announced four high-profile mergers and acquisitions that came with no value figures but affect companies familiar to many veteran life and annuity professionals. For a look at a ranking of the top deals, based on announced values or, for the deals without announced values, perceived market impact, see the gallery. The dates, amounts and other details given reflect the descriptions in the original transaction announcements.

Limitations

The numbers related to assets, reserves and account value are not comparable to the stock distribution values, but we have used them to come up with the gallery order because of the lack of a better alternative. The gallery excludes debt offerings, secondary stock sales and some other transactions that appeared to be conducted mainly for financing purposes, and not primarily to shift some or all control of a business, or a block of business, from one party to another.

The Context

A year ago, when we created a similar list that included a health insurance deal, we found that insurers had announced life and annuity deals with about $37 billion in asset, reserve, account or acquisition value. In three cases, ordinary insurance company buyers made deals in an effort to improve their ability to compete. (Image: Tiko/Adobe Stock)