((Automated translation by Reuters, please see disclaimer https://bit.ly/rtrsauto))
(Recast and edited, added comments from Nippon Life Chairman) by Anton Bridge and Kane Wu
Nippon Life Insurance plans to acquire all shares it does not own in Resolution Life Group Holdings for approximately $8.2 billion, an all-cash deal that will give Japan's largest insurer a foothold more firmly in the American market.
This is the largest overseas acquisition by a Japanese insurer to date and the second major deal announced by Nippon Life this year. Japanese insurers are keen to expand overseas given limited growth prospects at home due to a shrinking and aging population.
“For some time, we have wanted to own a company that could be at the heart of the world's largest insurance market – the United States,” Hiroshi Shimizu, president of Nippon Life, said at a press conference on Wednesday. .
“Resolution is an excellent company in a market that will grow and we therefore want to guarantee its potential,” he added.
Nippon Life currently owns approximately 23% of Bermuda-based Resolution Life and aims to make it a wholly-owned subsidiary in the second half of 2025.
The deal values Resolution Life, owned by a series of investors including global investment firm and business partner Blackstone BX.N , at $10.6 billion. Resolution Life will continue to be led by Chief Executive Officer Clive Cowdery.
As part of the transaction, Nippon Life will also buy the 20% stake it does not hold in MLC Life from National Australia Bank NAB.AX for approximately A$500 million ($320 million) and merge them with Resolution Life Australasia to form Acenda, a new leading life insurer.
Nippon Life, which has lagged behind domestic rivals in U.S. acquisitions, on Tuesday completed the purchase of a 21.6% stake in U.S. insurance company Corebridge Financial CRBG. N for an amount of 3.8 billion dollars.
It also sought to diversify its domestic operations by purchasing nursing care provider Nichii Holdings for $1.4 billion in November last year.
Nippon Life has made global expansion a strategic priority for this fiscal year and next, and aims to double the group's core operating profit to around 1.4 trillion yen by 2035.
Founded just seven years ago, Resolution Life is a closed-end insurance company that purchases existing insurance policies from insurers in the United States and other countries.
It manages $85 billion in assets and 4.3 million policies, according to Nippon Life.
Blackstone, which has been Resolution Life's investment management partner for directly generated assets, including private credit and real estate, will continue this partnership following the takeover by Nippon Life.
In the Japanese insurance sector, the property and casualty insurer Tokio Marine Holdings was particularly active. It bought specialty insurer HCC Insurance Holdings for $7.5 billion in 2015, paid $2.7 billion in 2011 for Delphi Financial and bought Philadelphia Consolidated for $4.7 billion in 2008.
Cross-border mergers and acquisitions involving Japanese companies have surged this year.
(1 dollar = 1.5672 Australian dollars)
