The 800-pound gorilla of the U.S. life insurance sector -- Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.-- reportedly tried to add more heft when it recently approached Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., according to The Wall Street Journal. Hartford apparently shunned MetLife, but had the two sides agreed to a union and regulators approved the marriage, the merger would have given MetLife -- the largest life insurer in the U.S. already -- a tighter hold in the American life insurance market as well as more girth in the property insurance area.
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While the credit crisis looks to have stormed into the insurance industry, the New York insurer has prepared for tough times, raising an additional $2 billion from a secondary offering Wednesday. That sum is on top of an already $4 billion of excess capital the insurer states it has. Some experts argue that MetLife is keeping the money for defensive purposes, while others see the best defense for the insurer is a good offense in the form of making deals.
Besides reportedly showing interest for Hartford, MetLife has been linked to making overtures for the Primerica insurance unit that JC Flowers & Co. LLC and Alabama insurer Protective Life Corp. are closing in on. MetLife has been relatively quiet on the acquisition front lately, picking up SafeGuard Health Enterprises Inc. in 2007. MetLife's biggest deal over the last couple of years was its $11.5 billion acquisition of Travelers Life & Annuity, which comprised all of Citigroup Inc.'s life insurance businesses, except for the life products offered by the New York-based bank's Mexican unit, Grupo Financiero Banamex SA de CV. - Gerald Magpily
See Dealscape: MetLife capital raise crushes stock
