The Purchase of the American StanCorp Financial Group by the Japanese Meiji Yasuda

In response to the local market slowdown, Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance announces the acquisition of the American insurer StanCorp Financial Group for an amount of 5 billion USD. This acquisition reflects the ambition of Japanese life insurers to expand outside the country of the rising sun.

In 2014, the American group collected nearly 2 billion USD in premiums and a net profit of 210 million USD. For its part, the Japanese life insurer Meiji Yasuda reached a turnover of 27.5 billion USD and recorded a net income of 2.1 billion USD (financial year ended March 31, 2015).

As a reminder, the largest overseas acquisition made this year by a Japanese insurer is that of Tokio Marine Holdings. Last June, it acquired the US insurer HCC Insurance Holdings valued at 7.5 billion USD.