- Acquisition enhances New York Life’s portfolio of strategic businesses, contributes to financial strength, and increases value for clients, producers, and policy owners
- Group Life and Disability Business Rebranded New York Life Group Benefit Solutions
NEW YORK, December 31, 2020 - New York Life, America's largest mutual life insurer[1], today announced the completion of the company’s acquisition of Cigna’s group life, accident, and disability insurance business. The $6.3 billion acquisition, which was first announced on December 18, 2019, adds approximately 3,000 employees, over nine million customers[2], and enhances New York Life’s portfolio of strategic businesses, which support the core retail life insurance franchise and bolster the company’s financial strength. The new business will be rebranded New York Life Group Benefit Solutions.
“This acquisition, the largest in our company’s history, reinforces our financial strength by generating capital that can contribute to our surplus, dividends, and earnings,” said New York Life Chairman and CEO Ted Mathas. “We are excited to welcome to New York Life our new employees and the millions of new customer relationships that we will gain through this milestone transaction. We look forward to building on our leading group benefit solutions market position in the years ahead.”
“New York Life Group Benefit Solutions brings deep expertise, differentiated underwriting and risk management capabilities, and extensive consultative experience to New York Life. Our mission is to provide financial peace of mind to those we serve and, together, we will maintain our unwavering focus on and commitment to clients, producers, customers, and our employees,” said William J. Smith, senior vice president and head of New York Life Group Benefit Solutions.
New York Life President Craig DeSanto added, “Industry-leading New York Life Group Benefit Solutions is an ideal fit for our company, with a strong management team and talented workforce. We look forward to adding New York Life Group Benefit Solutions’ complementary suite of benefits and services to our offerings and growing together in the future. With this acquisition, New York Life is even more strongly positioned to continue to deliver financial security to individuals, families, and business owners.”
New York Life and Cigna have also entered into a multi-year collaboration that will continue to bring differentiated, integrated health and group benefit solutions for clients and prospects who desire them.
New York Life Group Benefit Solutions will operate within New York Life’s portfolio of strategic businesses, which includes Group Membership Association, Institutional Annuities, Institutional Life, New York Life Direct, and Seguros Monterrey New York Life, among others.
With the completion of the acquisition, New York Life is now a top five insurer across group life, accident, and disability insurance[3].
Additional Information
Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC acted as financial advisor and Debevoise & Plimpton LLP acted as legal advisor to New York Life.
Bank of America Securities acted as financial advisor to Cigna. Sidley Austin LLP served as lead legal counsel, and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP served as antitrust counsel, to Cigna. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz also advised Cigna on the transaction.
About New York Life
New York Life Insurance Company ( www.newyorklife.com), a Fortune 100 company founded in 1845, is the largest mutual life insurance company in the United States* and one of the largest life insurers in the world. Headquartered in New York City, New York Life’s family of companies offers life insurance, retirement income, investments and long-term care insurance. New York Life has received the highest financial strength ratings currently awarded to any U.S. life insurer from all four of the major credit rating agencies**.
New York Life Group Benefit Solutions products and services are provided exclusively by or through Life Insurance Company of North America (“LINA”) or Cigna Life Insurance Company of New York (New York, NY) (“CLICNY”), or by or through affiliates or subsidiaries of Cigna Corporation and reinsured by LINA. LINA and CLICNY are responsible for their own financial condition and contractual obligations.
*Based on revenue as reported by “Fortune 500 ranked within Industries, Insurance: Life, Health (Mutual),” Fortune magazine, 5/18/2020. For methodology, please see http://fortune.com/fortune500.
**Individual independent rating agency commentary as of 10/15/2020: A.M. Best (A++), Fitch (AAA), Moody’s Investors Service (Aaa), Standard & Poor’s (AA+).
About Cigna
Cigna Corporation is a global health service company dedicated to improving the health, well-being and peace of mind of those we serve. Cigna delivers choice, predictability, affordability and access to quality care through integrated capabilities and connected, personalized solutions that advance whole person health. All products and services are provided exclusively by or through operating subsidiaries of Cigna Corporation, including Cigna Health and Life Insurance Company, Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, Evernorth companies or their affiliates and Express Scripts companies or their affiliates. Such products and services include an integrated suite of health services, such as medical, dental, behavioral health, pharmacy, vision, supplemental benefits and other related products. Cigna maintains sales capability in over 30 countries and jurisdictions, and has more than 170 million customer relationships around the world. To learn more about Cigna®, including links to follow us on Facebook or Twitter, visit www.cigna.com.
Cigna Forward Looking Statements
This press release, and oral statements made in connection with this release, may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are based on Cigna's current expectations and projections about future trends, events and uncertainties. These statements are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements may include, among others, statements concerning our projected consolidated adjusted income from operations outlook for 2020 on a per share basis; projected adjusted revenue outlook for 2020; future financial or operating performance, including our ability to deliver affordable, personalized and innovative solutions for our customers and clients, in light of the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic; future growth, business strategy, strategic or operational initiatives, including our organizational efficiency plan; economic, regulatory or competitive environments, particularly with respect to the pace and extent of change in these areas; financing or capital deployment plans and amounts available for future deployment; our prospects for growth in the coming years; strategic transactions, including the merger (the "Merger") with Express Scripts Holding Company and the sale of our U.S. Group Disability and Life business; our ongoing operational response to the COVID-19 pandemic; and other statements regarding Cigna's future beliefs, expectations, plans, intentions, financial condition or performance. You may identify forward-looking statements by the use of words such as "believe," "expect," "plan," "intend," "anticipate," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "may," "should," "will" or other words or expressions of similar meaning, although not all forward-looking statements contain such terms.
Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, both known and unknown, that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: our ability to achieve our financial, strategic and operational plans or initiatives; our ability to predict and manage medical and pharmacy costs and price effectively; our ability to adapt to changes or trends in an evolving and rapidly changing industry; our ability to effectively differentiate our products and services from those of our competitors and maintain or increase market share; our ability to develop and maintain good relationships with physicians, hospitals, other health care providers, producers, consultants, and pharmaceutical manufacturers; changes in the pharmacy provider marketplace or pharmacy networks; changes in drug pricing; the impact of modifications to our operations and processes; our ability to identify potential strategic transactions and realize the expected benefits (including anticipated synergies) of such transactions in full or within the anticipated time frame, including with respect to the Merger and the sale of our Group Disability and Life business, as well as our ability to integrate or separate operations, resources and systems; the substantial level of government regulation over our business and the potential effects of new laws or regulations or changes in existing laws or regulations; the outcome of litigation, regulatory audits, investigations, actions or guaranty fund assessments; uncertainties surrounding participation in government-sponsored programs such as Medicare; the effectiveness and security of our information technology and other business systems and those of our key suppliers or other third parties; the impact of our debt service obligations on the availability of funds for other business purposes; unfavorable industry, economic or political conditions, including foreign currency movements; acts of civil unrest, war, terrorism, natural disasters or pandemics; reinsurance credit risk; the scale and scope of the COVID-19 pandemic and its potential impact on our business, operating results, cash flows and financial condition, as well as on our employees, clients, customers, suppliers and partners and on the U.S. and global economies; as well as more specific risks and uncertainties discussed in our most recent report on Form 10-K, our Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2020 and subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K available through the Investor Relations section of www.cigna.com. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made, are not guarantees of future performance or results, and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict or quantify. Cigna undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law.
Media Contacts
Jacqueline Meere
New York Life
1 (646) 468-0020
jacqueline_meere@newyorklife.com
Jim Cohn
Cigna
1 (224) 214-8781
james.cohn@Cigna.com
[1]Based on revenue as reported by “Fortune 500 ranked within Industries, Insurance: Life, Health (Mutual),” Fortune magazine, 5/18/2020. For methodology, please see http://fortune.com/fortune500.
[2] Estimated number of unique customer relationships represented among 15.9 million covered lives across both Disability and Life. Source: Cigna 3Q2020 earnings: https://www.cigna.com/static/www-cigna-com/docs/about-us/investor-relations/quarterly-reports-and-sec-filings/cigna-corp-third-quarter-2020-release.pdf [PDF]
[3] Source: Based on Life Insurance Company of North America and Cigna Life Insurance Company of New York (New York, NY) new sales as reported in LIMRA's U.S. Workplace Benefits, Disability and Life Sales 2019 Annual Results)