Insurance

Prudential’s India listing may prove short-sighted

25 Mar 2025

The insurer might seek a $12 bln valuation for its local asset management unit. Returning proceeds to shareholders could boost Pru's stock, which trades at a discount to AIA. But a sale would be a partial retreat from a fast-growing market while giants like BlackRock pile in.

Bank investors bet on car loan scandal airbags

13 Mar 2025

A court verdict on mis-sold motor loans could pave the way for large fines for lenders like Lloyds. Yet that would undermine chancellor Rachel Reeves’ growth agenda, and the regulator has ways to limit the damage. Current stock prices imply a dent rather than a pile-up.

Insurers will struggle to dodge climate-change tab

26 Feb 2025

From California to Delhi, losses from floods and wildfires are growing. Meanwhile, insurers are pulling cover to protect themselves. Governments can’t let that happen en masse, though, meaning the $3.6 trln property and casualty sector will end up paying one way or another.

Japan’s M&A wave is just getting started

13 Feb 2025

The country’s corporate giants, nudged by reform, are exploring big deals. Carmakers Honda and Nissan, convenience store 7-Eleven’s owner and others are testing waters at home and abroad. In this week’s Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists debate how far it will go.

L&G’s US exit is lucrative way to flip the script

7 Feb 2025

The UK insurer is selling its American protection unit to Meiji Yasuda for $2.3 bln in cash. As EU companies scramble to gain share in the world’s largest economy, the timing is odd. But L&G boss Antonio Simoes is also exploiting Japanese demand for US assets to get a good price.

European mega fund deal swaps scale for complexity

21 Jan 2025

Insurer Generali and French bank BPCE are pooling asset managers. A quirky joint-venture structure, and sceptical Italian shareholder, add risk in a sector where M&A is already tricky. The quid pro quo is a chance to create a 1.9 trln euro champion in a consolidating market.

Ping An’s tech dreams may yet exit intensive care

16 Jan 2025

The $110 bln insurer’s days of spinning off web-based ventures to help boost its value are long over. But a quirky special dividend is giving it back majority control of beaten-down but cash-rich Ping An Healthcare just as the online medical firm’s fortunes look set to improve.

UnitedHealth lacks antidote for chronic anger

15 Jan 2025

The $500 bln US medical conglomerate’s relentless growth ostensibly aimed to reduce costs for patients, but conveniently expanded its market dominance and bottom line. With consumer and political dissatisfaction hardening, boss Andrew Witty will struggle to be part of the cure.

Los Angeles fires expose inflated US home prices

9 Jan 2025

Devastation around the country’s second-largest city has already led to one damage estimate beyond $50 bln. New California rules ease the way for insurers to charge more to cover the risks. Once the blazes are contained, housing market realities will start to spread nationwide.

Insurance risks will be a proxy carbon tax

27 Dec 2024

Governments have failed to introduce a global levy to bring down fossil fuel emissions. But climate change is increasingly forcing up the cost of living. With insurance becoming more expensive and scarcer, the risk is that carbon pricing happens – but in a highly regressive way.

Insurers will stake their claim in private credit

24 Dec 2024

Buyout giants like Apollo and KKR have grabbed hold of an industry dragged down by dire valuations and aged policy books and used it to crack open a $34 trln credit market. As private lenders consolidate, insurers will flip the script by making their own acquisitions in 2025.

Nippon Life plays up Japan Inc’s existential angst

11 Dec 2024

The insurer is buying smaller US rival Resolution for $8.2 bln. Returns look low, and the weak yen makes overseas purchases more expensive. But the deal diversifies earnings too reliant on a shrinking home market. Assuming Washington allows, such transactions will keep flowing.

A $13 bln cash sale breaks buyout doom loop

9 Dec 2024

In a tough market for M&A and IPOs, private equity shops have been recycling assets to sate anxious investors. GTCR’s deal to offload its insurance broker to Arthur J. Gallagher provides a sign that the tide may be turning. Whether animal spirits will persist is the question.

UnitedHealth tragedy opens deep healthcare wounds

5 Dec 2024

The murder of insurance boss Brian Thompson drew a slew of callous responses, including on a company Facebook post. Industry profit is rising in a nation spending double its peers on healthcare for worse outcomes. Policy ideas are weak, but political risk is amping up.

Aviva can put its foot down with Direct Line

28 Nov 2024

The $16 bln UK insurer has had a $4 bln approach for its smaller rival rebuffed. Boss Amanda Blanc has scope to turbocharge the offer and still make an acceptable return. That makes it more likely that she goes over the heads of Direct Line’s management if they don’t engage.

Hurricane Milton blows utilities into eye of storm

10 Oct 2024

The industry’s stocks have led the market thanks to prospects for AI-related electricity usage and lower interest rates. Such exuberance misses the inconvenient truth about mounting climate-related costs. Florida’s $170 bln NextEra epitomizes the tricky investment theses.

AIA loosens tight Chinese purse strings

22 Aug 2024

The $70 bln insurer reported a 25% increase in new business value in the first half, led by rapid growth in mainland China. Demand for the group's savings products is driving sales as the economy sputters. AIA's aggressive expansion onshore is paying off.

BNP’s AXA deal is a logical use of spare cash

2 Aug 2024

The French bank will buy the insurer’s fund unit for 5.1 bln euros, using money from its BancWest sale. It’s a big deal, but the price looks fair. And while BNP Paribas investors may prefer buybacks, a capital-light target makes more sense than a rash swoop on another lender.

Scor investors’ bad year can still get worse

16 Jul 2024

The French insurer’s shares fell 25% on Tuesday due to troubles in its life arm. Scor’s investors could have sold to rival Covéa six years ago, at twice the current valuation. If the looming hurricane season leads to big losses in 2024, they may be obliged to pump in new equity.

Pru’s buyback falls way short of a comeback

25 Jun 2024

The insurer’s shares jumped 7% on its plan to repurchase $2 bln-worth of stock. But its valuation still lags nearest peer AIA. To close the gap boss Anil Wadhwani has to show he can deliver both his predecessor’s overhaul and his own revamp. That's likely to be a long slog.