American Equity Agrees to $4.3B Offer From Brookfield Re

The deal is subject to approval by American Equity shareholders, insurance regulators and U.S. antitrust regulators.

American Equity has agreed to suspend paying dividends on its common stock until the deal closes, or until April 4, 2024, if the deal closes after that date.

Brookfield Re noted that it has continued to maintain American Equity’s support for charitable organizations in the Des Moines area.

The Future

Many U.S. life and annuity issuers now say they want to become “asset-light” companies, meaning that they will focus mainly on designing, selling and administering life insurance and annuity products and use reinsurance arrangements and other mechanisms to put some or all of the assets supporting the products on the balance sheets of other companies.

Jon Bayer, a Brookfield Re managing partner, said he believes American Equity’s management team has succeeded at transforming the company into an “innovative, asset-light insurer that is positioned for growth.”

American Equity’s annuity business complements the annuity business that Brookfield Re already has, Bayer said in a comment on the deal.

“We expect to accelerate growth in collaboration with our distribution partners and employees while continuing to meet the needs of our policyholders and other stakeholders,” Bayer said.

The People

Before Bayer began working for Brookfield Re, in 2021, he was head of corporate development at F&G Annuities & Life.

At Brookfield Re’s parent company, Brookfield Corp., the vice chair of insurance solutions is Michael McRaith. McRaith is the former Illinois state insurance director and the former director of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Federal Insurance Office.

At the FIO, McRaith helped federal financial services regulators monitor the U.S. insurance industry and work with insurance regulators in other countries.

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