Now that most banks want nothing to do with the Troubled Asset Relief Program, insurers such as Lincoln Financial Group (NYSE:LNC) are hopping onto the TARP train. So far Lincoln along with Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. (NYSE:HIG)
have accepted TARP.
Lincoln Financial said in an
SEC filing that it will take $950 million in TARP funds. In order to raise capital, the insurer is also raising $2 billion in stock and debt and divesting its U.K. subsidiary to Canada's Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE:SLF) for £195 million ($319 million).
Lincoln Financial is one of six insurers that has qualified for TARP. The insurer bought Newton County
Loan and Savings
in order to turn itself into a bank holding company to gain access to the U.S. Treasury's $700
billion TARP. The other four insurers that qualified: Allstate Corp. (NYSE:ALL), Ameriprise Financial Inc. (NYSE:AMP), Principal Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:PFG) and Prudential Financial Inc. (NYSE:PRU) turned down TARP funds, according to
Daily Finance.
Lincoln needed the funds because of its exposure to commercial mortgage-backed securities and commercial real estate, as
DealBook points out.
- Maria Woehr
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