Unum Group Corp. has moved toward entering the U.S. dental and vision benefits markets by completing a previously announced acquisition of H&J Capital LLC, the parent of Starmount Life Insurance Co. and AlwaysCare Benefits.
Starmount Life is an insurer licensed to do business in 49 states and the District of Columbia. AlwaysCare is a benefit plan administrator.
The Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based companies sell a wide variety of individual, group and voluntary insurance products, but they are best known for AlwaysCare's dental and vision plans.
Starmount generates about $180 million in premium revenue per year from insurance products that provide coverage for about 940,000 people.
Mike Simonds, president of Unum's Unum US unit, said in a statement about the deal that the Unum acquired H&J because Unum sees strong market demand for dental and vision insurance.
"Starmount's solid products and networks, combined with Unum's scale and capabilities, will help us create real value for our clients and expand access to financial protection benefits in the workplace," Simonds said.
Unum will introduce Unum Dental and Unum Vision products underwritten by Starmount in 2017, Unum said.