Generali to Take Control of Conning From Cathay Life

News July 06, 2023 at 12:36 PM
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An Italian company will be replacing a Taiwanese company as the corporate parent for Conning Holdings.

Generali has agreed to acquire control of Conning from Cathay Life.

Conning is a major provider of asset management and research services to U.S. life and annuity issuers, as well to U.S. property and casualty insurers.

Generali and Cathay Life hope to close on the deal by June 30, 2024.

What It Means

Generali could play a major, behind-the-scenes role in shaping the investments supporting your clients' life insurance policies and annuity contracts.

The Companies

Conning is a Hartford, Connecticut-based company with $157 billion in assets under management.

Conning ranked eighth on the DCS Financial/Clearwater Analytics list of the top independent managers of North American insurers' assets, with about $66 billion in North American insurer general account assets under management in 2022.

Conning's current parent, Cathay Life, is an arm of Cathay Financial. Cathay Financial is based in Taipei and has $393 billion in assets.

The would-be buyer, Generali, has its headquarters in Trieste, Italy, and about $675 billion in assets.

The History

Conning was founded in 1912 and started out as a securities broker. It later began to focus on serving insurers.

General American Life acquired Conning in 1995. MetLife acquired Conning along with General American in 2000.

Swiss Re bought the firm from MetLife in 2001, and Aquiline Capital, an investment firm, bought it from Swiss Re in 2009.

Cathay Life acquired Conning from Aquiline in 2011. At the time time, Conning said it had about $100 billion in total assets under management.

The Deal

Current deal plans, according to Conning, call for Generali's Generali Investment Holdings asset management affiliate to end up owning Conning.

Cathay Life would get a 16.75% stake in in Generali Investment Holdings. Conning would continue to manage some of Cathay Life's assets for at least 10 years.

Conning would continue to run autonomously, under the leadership of the current CEO, Woody Bradford, the firm said.

"We believe this transaction provides stability for our clients and employees, maintains continuity of leadership and strategy, and will generate new collaboration opportunities with Generali and its affiliates to strengthen both firms," Bradford said in a comment about the deal.

Philippe Donnet, group CEO of Generali, said Generali sees making the deal as a way to strengthen its footprint in the U.S. and Asian markets and to implement its asset management strategy.

Photo: Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg

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