Resolution Life Group Holdings Ltd.’s acquisition of the in-force individual life business of Voya Financial, Inc. has been delayed slightly to allow more time to finalise the remaining regulatory reviews of the deal.
Announced in December of last year, the transaction was initially expected to close by the end of the third-quarter of 2020. This target date has now been shifted to the end of December, 2020 as more time is needed to complete regulatory reviews.
Through the transaction, Resolution Life US, a new holding company established by Resolution Life Group, will acquire Voya’s Security Life of Denver Insurance Company (SLD) and Security Life of Denver International Limited (SLDI) subsidiaries.
Additionally, Voya will reinsure the life insurance, pension risk transfer and non-retirement annuities business issued by ReliaStar Life Insurance Company (RLI), Voya Retirement Insurance and Annuity Company (VRIAC), and ReliaStar Life Insurance Company of New York (RNY), to SLD.
Under the terms of the agreement, Voya will retain ownership of VRIAC, RNY and RLI, and will also take an interest in Resolution Life, the parent investment fund of Resolution Life US.
Rodney Martin, Jr, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Voya, commented: “As we shared on our second-quarter earnings call last month, Voya and Resolution Life have made outstanding progress on the sale of Voya’s Individual Life and legacy non-retirement annuities closed blocks.
“Thanks to the dedication of teams at both companies, we have completed all the operational and financial requirements needed to close the transaction and ensure a smooth transition for our customers. In addition, to date, we have received approval from most of the state and federal regulators that need to review the transaction. However, we recently learned that the approval process will not be complete prior to Sept. 30, 2020. As a result, we now expect that the transaction will close in the fourth quarter of 2020. We also continue to expect that the sale will provide Voya with approximately $1.5 billion in deployable capital.”
Sir Clive Cowdery, Founder and Executive Chairman at Resolution Life, added: “Over the past several months, many of us at Resolution Life have had the opportunity to work even more closely with the Voya team and get to know the extremely talented individuals that are managing these closed blocks.
“We have tremendous confidence in the team and in the Voya platform through which we plan to establish and build our presence in the United States. Based on past acquisitions that we have completed involving legacy life insurance and annuity blocks, we recognize and appreciate the complexity involved. We look forward to continuing to work with Voya and with each regulator to complete the necessary steps to finalize the transaction in the fourth quarter.”
