Lincoln Financial To Buy Liberty Life Assurance Co. Of Boston For $3.3 Bln

(RTTNews) - Lincoln Financial Group (LNC) said it has agreed to acquire Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston from Liberty Mutual Insurance Group for about $3.3 billion. The company noted that the acquisition will further advance its strategic priority of increasing mortality and morbidity sources of earnings.

The acquisition is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2018. Upon completion of the transaction, Lincoln Financial will retain Liberty's Group Benefits business and reinsure Liberty's Individual Life and Annuity business to Protective Life Insurance Company.

Under the terms of the deal, Lincoln Financial Group will pay Liberty Mutual approximately $3.3 billion, which consists of $1.446 billion total net investment for the Group Benefits business, including a purchase price of $1.021 billion and $425 million in required capital.

The remaining components of the payment to Liberty Mutual include $410 million of individual life and annuity value paid by Protective Life; $1.202 billion associated with excess capital in LLAC; and $211 million of tax items.

Lincoln Financial expects the acquisition to be accretive to its earnings per share in 2019, excluding integration costs, and will be financed with cash and the issuance of debt.

Lincoln Financial said it's shareholder buyback program will be temporarily suspended, and it is expected to resume no later than the third quarter of 2018.