In the first
listing of a life insurer in the US since 2004, Symetra Financial
Corporation made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange on 22
January, following an initial public offer (IPO) of shares at $12
each.
Symetra shares traded as high a $13 per share
in its first day, giving it a market capitalisation of about $1.4
billion.
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In the IPO, 20.7 million new shares were sold,
raising $248 million in new capital for the
Washington-headquartered insurer. A further 9.7 million existing
shares were sold for a total of about $117 million by certain
investors, including private equity firm JC Flowers and asset
management firm Fairholme Capital Management.
Significantly, the companies which led the
acquisition of Symetra in July 2004 – billionaire Warren Buffett’s
investment company Berkshire Hathaway and US general insurer and
reinsurer White Mountains Insurance Group – decided to retain their
stakes.
Established in 1957, Symetra was named Safeco
Life and Investments when sold by general insurer Safeco
Corporation for $1.35 billion in 2004. The deal was undertaken via
a specially formed acquisition company capitalised at $1 billion,
of which Berkshire Hathaway and White Mountains each contributed
$200 million, giving them stakes of 24 percent each. Prior to the
IPO, the pair each had stakes of 26.3 percent.
Symetra, which ranks among the top-40 life
insurers in the US, is active in the employee benefits, annuities
and individual life insurance sectors.
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By GlobalDataSymetra was also ranked as the market leader
in medical stop-loss insurance in an analysis published in 2009 by
ratings agency Standard & Poors. Medical stop-loss insurance is
a form of reinsurance for self-insured employers that limits the
amount they will have to pay for each employee’s health care or
total company health care expenses.
In 2008, Symetra reported total premium income
of $584.8 million, up from $530.5 million in 2007, and total
revenue of $1.45 billion, down from $1.59 billion in 2007. Net
income fell from $167.3 million in 2007 to $22.1 million in
2008.
In the first nine months of 2009, Symetra
reported net income of $96.2 million, up from $27 million in the
first nine months of 2008, while revenue of $1.3 billion was up
from $1.1 billion. As at 30 September 2009, Symetra had total
assets of $22.2 billion, 1.8 million customers and a staff of
1,100.
Symetra is headed by president and CEO Randall
H Talbot who joined Safeco Life and Investments in 1998.
