New York Life Insurance Co. is targeting more deals after purchasing about 1.3 million policies from Manulife Financial Corp.’s John Hancock unit.
“The company is interested in acquiring other blocks of high-quality life insurance in the future,” Chief Executive Officer Ted Mathas said in a statement Thursday announcing the completion of the Hancock deal.
The transaction brings about $12 billion of assets under management to New York Life and is part of Mathas’s strategy to use deals to add funds that his company can invest. The policyholder-owned insurer announced the hiring last month of Saad Khalil, a former Barclays Plc dealmaker, as head of mergers and acquisitions.
The insurers announced the life transaction in December along with a separate deal in which Toronto-based Manulife agreed to buy a retirement-plan services business from New York Life. The retirement purchase was completed in April, according to a separate statement from Manulife, which didn’t disclose terms.
The latest deal brings New York Life’s general account assets to more than $213 billion, the company said.
