Guggenheim Life Well Placed to Buy Aviva USA

[nathan.lee]

First SBL, then Equitrust, and now Aviva? Anyone think this deal will happen? If so, what will be the future of Aviva USA under Guggenheim?

Guggenheim Life well placed to buy Aviva USA: report | Reuters

 

[SWM]

Very intertesting as Aviva seems to be fairly strong at present. You might add they picked up Standard Life of Indiana as well.

 

[WPM]

Who does Guggenheim currently own? Equitrust and Security Benefit, correct? Anyone else?

 

[SWM]

Who does Guggenheim currently own? Equitrust and Security Benefit, correct? Anyone else?

They picked up Standard Life of Indiana out of receivership.

 

[WPM]

They picked up Standard Life of Indiana out of receivership.

Equitrust is B+ and I believe SBL was just upgraded to A-, not sure about Standard Life. Do these ratings bother anyone, or does Guggenheim Life's deep pockets provide a security blanket?

 

[nathan.lee]

Equitrust is B+ and I believe SBL was just upgraded to A-, not sure about Standard Life. Do these ratings bother anyone, or does Guggenheim Life's deep pockets provide a security blanket?

I'm not overly fond of private equity firms purchasing large blcoks of insurance carriers. Just look at what John Paulson's influence did to the decision The Hartford made to divest their annuity portfolio. That being said, I would be interested to see what Guggenheim would or could do differently than Aviva.

 

[WPM]

Equitrust was just upgraded to B++ and I believe Security Benefit was upgraded recently as well.

Of course, the rating agencies never get it wrong do they?

 

[iceco1d]

SBL is A- now from S&P. Their Total Interest Annuity product has a 5% first year rate, fyi. 3% base rate. 2% bonus. 10% free after first year. 6 year surrender. Flex premium.

 

[WPM]

SBL is A- now from S&P. Their Total Interest Annuity product has a 5% first year rate, fyi. 3% base rate. 2% bonus. 10% free after first year. 6 year surrender. Flex premium.

I'm not familiar with all of the product offerings, but these companies seem to have some strong contracts given the current financial/interest rate environment.

 

[iceco1d]

They do. Guggenheim is trying to bring interest back to SBL after their ratings disaster. SBL's Variflex VA contract still has a 3% GMIR in the fixed bucket until the end of September (but if you put $500 in it, you can have it available for life).