Dive Brief:
- In a move to strengthen its market hold, Pacific Life Insurance is considering buying Genworth Financial’s term-life technology platform and certain other assets, Bloomberg reported.
- Under a tentative agreement signed last week, PacLife would also get Genworth’s ‘Genius’ business IT platform and some intellectual property related to term-life insurance.
- In February, Genworth announced it was suspending sales of term-life insurance and fixed-annuity products to devote resources to long-term care coverage.
Dive Insight:
PacLife reportedly told the News & Advance, the first newspaper to report the agreement, the planned deal would provide it “with the opportunity to leverage a proven technology as the company executes upon a long-term business strategy to further expand within the term life market.”
The companies are conducting due diligence and have not settled on a final deal. According to Bloomberg, PacLife is seeking to broaden its life insurance footprint, while Genworth is shedding businesses in the wake of losses on long-term care policies. The company has lost a total of $2 billion in the long-term care sector and continues to lose from $100 million to $150 million annually.
The proposed acquisition also includes an office building in Lynchburg, Virginia, whose assets relate to Genworth’s term-life products, Work It, Lynchburg reported. Genworth would have the option of leasing back office space for existing employees.
The deal wouldn’t affect Genworth’s existing portfolio of term-life policies, which it would continue to manage.