Life Settlement Firm Hopes to Have Stock on Nasdaq by July
What You Need to Know
Abacus Life hopes to become a public company by completing a SPAC transaction.
It has arranged for up to $50 million in financing through an affiliate of Blue Owl Capital.
Originally, Abacus Life hoped to complete the SPAC transaction by Dec. 31, 2022.
Abacus Life, a life settlement firm, said Monday that it’s on track to have a listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange by the first week of July.
The Orlando, Florida-based company representatives also said that it has arranged for up to $50 million in financing from Blue Owl Capital’s Owl Rock direct lending program.
Abacus Life buys life insurance policies from the insureds or other companies that invest in in-force life insurance policies and then holds the policies or sells the policies to other investment firms.
What It Means
Abacus Life could soon be able to use quarterly communications with shareholders to promote the idea that people with certain types of life insurance policies can sell the policies.
The History
Abacus Life has been operating in the life settlement market since 2004. It started a life settlement asset management affiliate, Longevity Market Assets, in 2017.
Life settlement firms typically focus on investing in life insurance policies that build up cash value, such as universal life policies and whole life policies.
They also invest in term life policies that give the insureds the ability to replace the term coverage with permanent life policies that are designed to build up cash value.
In August 2022, Abacus Life announced plans to get a Nasdaq listing through a merger with East Resources Acquisition Co., a Boca Raton, Florida-based special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC.
Originally, Abacus Life hoped to complete the SPAC transaction by Dec. 31, 2022.
In October 2022, the companies postponed the deadline to Jan. 27, 2023, and Eastern Resources then sought and received approval from its shareholders for a second extension, to July 27, 2023.
The Results
East Resources itself had no significant revenue in 2022.
Abacus Life itself focuses on buying and selling policies for investors. It lost $52,495 in 2022 on $25 million in revenue and $3.2 million in assets, according to a deal-related document filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The firm estimated that $12 million of its 2022 revenue came from transactions involving life insurance agents, $9.9 million from transactions involving life settlement brokers and $3.1 million from working directly with clients.
Abacus Life reported that its Longevity Market Assets affiliate, which invests in life insurance policies itself and services life insurance policy portfolios for Abacus Life and other companies, earned $32 million in 2022 on $45 million in revenue and $59 million in assets.
Longevity Market Assets earned $1.5 million of its revenue from servicing life insurance policy assets; $38 million from life insurance policy investment income; and $5.4 million from increases in the fair value of the policies in its portfolio.
