Consulting firm HR Path in May 2018 acquired Ataraxis, headquartered in Belgium and operating in the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Spain and France. Ataraxis is a Workday specialist (Workday is a provider of enterprise cloud software for finance and human resources). Ataraxis will become the dedicated Workday practice of HR Path. The senior management team, Tom Hillen, Wouter Van den Avont and Jan Snyers will become HR Path partners. Ataraxis

Generali in April 2018 sold Generali Belgium to Athora Holding for EUR 540 million. Generali Belgium is primarily focused on the life segment but also offers P/C products. After the sale, Generali will remain present in Belgium through its Global Business Lines and especially Generali’s multinational pooling network GEB as well as through Europ Assistance. Athora is likely to rename the company after completion of the deal; it will

Vistra in April 2018 acquired Radius, a U.S.-based provider of international expansion services. Vistra is a provider of international incorporations, trust, fiduciary, private office and fund administration services, and will be acquiring Radius from the private equity firm Hg. Radius provides managed services, advisory services and OverseasConnect, its integrated cloud-based software platform, to more than 500 clients operating in 80 countries. The firm is headquartered in Boston with offices

Global insurance brokerage Hub International in April 2018 announced the acquisition of ES3 Advisory from Vancouver, British Columbia. Founded in 1999 by Darrell Ert, ES3 Advisory is an employee benefits and pension consulting firm. Faizal Mitha, Vice President of Employee Strategies, will join Hub TOS reporting to Dave Terry, President of Hub TOS. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Cigna in March 2018 announced it will acquire pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts in a $67 billion cash and stock deal.  According to Cigna CEO David Cordani, the merger “will drive health care costs down while improving the quality of care.” The proposed merger would allow Cigna to lower its costs by in-sourcing pharmacy benefit management (PBM) services, and to absorb Express Scripts’ profits. How can Cigna lower its

Ascensus, a U.S. third-party administrator (TPA) of savings products, in March 2018 entered into an agreement to acquire Chard Snyder, which will serve as the anchor business for Ascensus’ newly formed Health division. Chard Snyder is a TPA that services consumer-directed health (CDH) plans including health savings accounts, health reimbursement arrangements, and flexible spending accounts. It also offers benefit continuation services like COBRA and FMLA leave administration along with

Zurich Insurance Group in March 2018 accelerated the growth of Cover-More Group, its specialist global travel insurance and assistance solutions business, by entering into agreements to acquire providers of traveler assistance in Latin America. These acquired businesses operate under the Travel Ace and Universal Assistance brands. The transaction incorporates 19 legal entities operating throughout Latin America, most notably in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico. Under Zurich’s ownership, the

Global insurance brokerage Hub International in March 2018 announced that it has acquired the assets of Spectra Management. Headquartered in Sandy, Utah, Spectra specializes in helping companies create employee benefits packages that ‘achieve the delicate balance between financial goals and company culture’. Through its retirement division, Spectra provides 401(k) retirement services, fiduciary risk management services, investment due diligence, plan and compliance review, provider services and benchmarking, and wealth management.

Three months after the December 2017 announcement that CVS Health had purchased Aetna, their respective shareholders on March 13, 2018 voted to approve the proposed $69 billion merger of the companies at special meetings. As discussed in an earlier post, the acquisition sets the stage for a new type of company that will include a health insurer, a retail pharmacy, and a pharmacy benefits manager that negotiates prescription drug

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company’s (MassMutual) international insurance holding company MassMutual International in March 2018 sold 85% of its wholly owned subsidiary MassMutual Japan to Nippon Life. MassMutual Japan, formerly known as Heiwa Life, was acquired by MassMutual in 2001. MassMutual will receive approximately USD 935 million in cash (JPY 104 billion) and retain approximately 15 percent ownership in MassMutual Japan. The transaction is expected to close in the first

Global insurance brokerage Hub International in March 2018 announced that it has acquired the shares of GMS Insurance. Based in Kitchener, Ontario (Canada), GMS Insurance is an independent benefit consulting firm that services clients in Southwestern Ontario and the greater Toronto area. GMS’s consultants address companies ranging from small start-ups to large national or international corporations. GMS Insurance will join Hub Ontario and Jonathan Shantz, President of GMS Insurance,

Global insurance brokerage Hub International in February 2018 announced that it has acquired the shares of Pointbreak Consulting Group. Headquartered in Burnaby, British Columbia – Canada, Pointbreak provides employee benefits and pension consulting services. Kevin Jeffrey, Principal and CEO of Pointbreak, will join Hub TOS and report to Dave Terry, President of Hub TOS. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Arthur J. Gallagher in February 2018 acquired Sioux Falls, South Dakota-based Williams Insurance Agency. Founded in 1967, Williams Insurance Agency offers property/casualty, life, health and voluntary benefits coverages to businesses and individuals primarily across South Dakota. Greg Heineman, Timothy Donohue, Dwight Vondra and their associates will continue to operate from their current location. They will report to Patrick M. Gallagher, head of Gallagher’s Midwest retail property/casualty brokerage operations, and

Global insurance brokerage Hub International (Hub) in February 2018 announced that it has acquired the shares of Kindersley Insurance. Headquartered in Kindersley, Saskatchewan (Canada), with an office in Dodsland, Kindersley Insurance Ltd. is a full-service, independent personal and commercial insurance brokerage that specializes in insurance solutions for the agriculture, oil field and trucking industries. Principals Mark Stockford and Barry Andrew will join Hub Manitoba and report to Doug Trapp,

Alera Group, a U.S. employee benefits, property/casualty, risk management and wealth management firm, in February 2018 announced that they have acquired three more firms, bringing the grand total of their acquisitions since their January 2017 launch to 20. The February 1, 2018 transaction includes Aisling Partners Insurance Brokerage of Worcester, Massachusetts; Davidson Benefits Planning (DBP) of Tigard, Oregon; and HR Benefits Advisors headquartered in Rochester, New York. Aisling is

Alera Group, a U.S. employee benefits, property/casualty, risk management and wealth management firm, in February 2018 announced that they have acquired Spring Consulting Group, located in Boston, Massachusetts. This acquisition expands the national presence of Alera Group to 17 U.S. states. Spring Consulting Group is a multidisciplinary employee benefits and risk management consulting firm that is well known in the employee benefits captive market. Their expertise covers the full

After raising $48 million in 2017 to tap into the growing needs of businesses to handle their global workforces, MOVE Guides in February 2018 announced the acquisition of Polaris Global Mobility, in order to expand its footprint in the market and the services it offers to customers. Polaris works with large enterprises to build software to manage expat programs and payroll. With the acquisition, MOVE Guides will now be

Swiss Re in February 2018 announced it was in preliminary talks with Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, which could end up owning up to one-third of the global reinsurer. The deal is valued at around USD 10 billion. Other $10+ bn investments by SoftBank include Sprint (telecoms), ARM Holdings (microprocessors), Vodafone Japan (telecom), Didi Chuxing, Uber Technologies (both transportation); smaller investments in insurance include Lemonade. As to the rationale behind the

Mid-2018 will see German insurer Allianz sell part of its Taiwan business’s traditional life insurance portfolio to China Life Insurance in a move by Allianz to actively manage its Taiwan life portfolio for more capital-efficient solutions. The deal includes a portfolio of around 78,000 policies with a guaranteed interest rate of 4 percent or higher, with combined policy reserves of 1.2 billion euros (on a IFRS basis, $1.42 billion

AIG in December 2017 became the sole owner of the AIG Global Benefits Network (AIG GBN). By way of background, through one of its units, AIG in mid-2015 had acquired a controlling 50%+1 stake in the former ING network. Two years later, the two minority shareholders of AIG GBN, Malakoff-Médéric of France and NN (formerly ING) of The Netherlands, sold their respective stakes. The move confirms AIG’s commitment to

Aetna in November 2017 sold its group life and disability insurance and absence management business to The Hartford for $1.45bn. Life and disability was the only non-health insurance related part of the business remaining after Aetna cut its property casualty insurance business in the mid-1990s. It only brought in about $2bn in premiums in 2016, while Aetna recorded $63.1bn in total revenue, and healthcare premium revenues reached $54.1bn. The

Global Bankers Insurance Group, an international family of insurance and reinsurance companies, will acquire Lincoln Benefit Life Company, a Lincoln, Nebraska, U.S.-based provider of life insurance and annuity solutions. The transaction that will conclude in the first quarter of 2018. Subject to appropriate regulatory approvals by the Nebraska Dept. of Insurance, the sale was prompted by the decision of Lincoln’s Resolution Group, which planned consolidation of Lincoln’s insurance activities

Lloyds Banking Group, the parent of Scottish Widows, in October 2017 announced a deal wherein it will buy Zurich UK’s workplace pensions and savings business in Q1 of 2018. The combined deal would place Scottish Widows as the UK’s third largest workplace savings provider. Zurich will get exclusive distribution rights for group life protection to certain corporate clients of Lloyds’ commercial banking business, while broadening Scottish Widows’ offering in

Abelica Global, an international network of financially and legally independent actuarial consulting firms, in December 2017 announced that it was joined by Portuguese firm Actuariado. Actuariado advises Portuguese clients on a range of actuarial and related consulting issues for both employee benefits and insurance. They also provide services to a number of clients in the Portuguese speaking African countries of Angola, Cabo Verde, and Mozambique. ‘We are happy to

DaVita Medical Group, a U.S. independent medical group and a subsidiary of DaVita, and Optum, a health services company that is part of UnitedHealth Group, have agreed to merge as of 5 December 2017 for approximately $4.9 billion in cash. The transaction is expected to close in 2018 and is subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions. DaVita, a Fortune 500 company, is the parent company of

The announcement that CVS Health has purchased Aetna, referred to in our earlier news item, was made on Sunday, 4 December 2017, laying to rest months of rumor and speculation. The acquisition sets the stage for a new type of company that will include a health insurer, a retail pharmacy, and a pharmacy benefits manager that negotiates prescription drug prices with drug-makers. The announcement comes at a time when

Chicago-based global insurance brokerage Hub International in November 2017 announced that it has acquired the assets of the Burlington, Vermont-based Summit Financial Corporation and Summit Financial Insurance Agency. Summit’s leadership team and staff will continue to operate out of Summit’s existing offices and will report to Charles Brophy, President and CEO, Regional President, Hub International US East. Summit, founded by Joe Bonasera and Brian Babcock, is one of New