LONDON and BALTIMORE, Sept. 28, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- Old Mutual plc (LSE:OML), an international diversified financial services group headquartered in London, England, completed the purchase today of Fidelity and Guaranty Life Insurance Company (F&G Life), a Baltimore-based life insurance, annuity and structured settlements company.
Old Mutual purchased F&G Life from The St. Paul Companies (NYSE:SPC) for $635 million in cash and stock. The deal, which was announced April 26, 2001, was concluded following receipt of regulatory approval in Maryland and New York, where F&G Life operates through its Thomas Jefferson Life subsidiary.
"The purchase of F&G Life provides Old Mutual with a strong presence in the United States life insurance market. It has an established brand with well-developed sales channels, a diversified product portfolio and knowledge of the vast U.S. market," said Guy Barker, chief executive of Old Mutual's U.S. Life operations.
F&G Life joins a diversified financial services group with corporate goals for growth and diversification. The acquisition will add considerable resources to F&G Life, which it will use to expand product development, technology, service and customer support of its sales channel and distribution network.
"This union creates a strategic alignment for F&G Life with Old Mutual that will translate into substantial added benefit and value for our customers, agents, employees and stockholders in the years ahead," said Harry N. Stout, president of F&G Life.
Old Mutual's Chief Executive Officer (designate), Jim Sutcliffe explained: "The U.S. market represents a strategic priority for Old Mutual, primarily due to access to the world's largest market for financial services, as well as demographic trends that support long-term growth. Building a quality life insurance platform is an important element of Old Mutual's U.S. strategy to expand its operations and become one of the world's largest life insurance providers."
Old Mutual and F&G Life have no significant direct exposure to losses as a result of the tragic events that took place in the U.S. on September 11, 2001.
Sutcliffe stated: "Old Mutual has expressed deep sympathy with the American people, particularly those directly affected and who have lost loved ones as a result of these horrific events."
The Old Mutual group managed in excess of $234 billion in funds as at June 30, 2001 and has approximately 3.8 million life assurance policyholders, 2.4 million banking customers, 400,000 short-term insurance policyholders and more than 900,000 unit trust accounts worldwide. Old Mutual's primary listing is on the London Stock Exchange (symbol OML) and it is a FTSE 100 financial services group, and ranks as a Fortune Global 500 company.
With more than $7.1 billion in assets (U.S. GAAP), F&G Life has offered a diverse portfolio of annuities and life insurance products since 1959. The company distributes financial products through a network of independent agents/brokers in all 50 states of the U.S. and has recently increased sales to more than $1 billion a year. F&G Life enjoys some of the industry's best new business and claims payment processing turnaround times.
F&G Life will continue to operate under its own name and remain in its Baltimore headquarters, where the majority of the company's 185 employees work.
For more information, visit the Fidelity and Guaranty Life Web site at www.fglife.com, or the Old Mutual Web site at www.oldmutual.com.