MetLife Inc is seeking to divest a substantial portion of its US retail segment and is currently evaluating structural alternatives for such a separation, including a public offering of shares in an independent, publicly traded company, a spin-off, or a sale.
The insurer is also undertaking preparations to complete the required financial statements and disclosures that would be required for a public offering or spin-off. The completion of a transaction taking the US retail segment public will depend on, among other things, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing and review process, as well as market conditions.
All of the company’s other reporting segments – Group, Voluntary and Worksite Benefits (GVWB), Corporate Benefit Funding (CBF), Asia, Latin America, and Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) – will remain part of MetLife. In the US market, MetLife will remain the leader in employee benefits through its GVWB business and a major provider of pension and retirement products through its CBF business.
MetLife plans to include the following entities in the new company: MetLife Insurance Company USA, General American Life Insurance Company, Metropolitan Tower Life Insurance Company and several subsidiaries that have reinsured risks underwritten by MetLife Insurance Company USA.
The parts of the US retail segment that will stay with MetLife are the life insurance closed block, property-casualty, and the life and annuity business sold through Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MLIC). MLIC will no longer write new retail life and annuity business following the separation.
The new business is to be led by MetLife Executive Vice President Eric Steigerwalt. The complete management team of the new company, as well as its board of directors, will be defined over time as preparations for the transaction take shape.