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  • Guggenheim scoops up insurer to build fixed indexed annuities

    October 10, 2011 by Darla Mercado

    Gives firm 10th-place market share, wider distribution

    By Darla Mercado

    October 7, 2011

    Guggenheim Partners LLC has bought EquiTrust Life Insurance Co., ramping up
    its presence in the fixed-indexed-annuity realm.

    The deal was announced in a filing with the Securities and Exchange
    Commission today. Guggenheim bought the insurer from FBL Financial Group Inc.
    for a preliminary purchase price of $440 million in cash. The firm expects the
    transaction to close around Dec. 30.

    Guggenheim will be stepping up its profile in the fixed-indexed-annuity
    market through the purchase. It currently owns Security Benefit Life Insurance
    Co., which sits at 12th place among indexed-annuity sellers, according to
    AnnuitySpecs.com’s Indexed Sales & Market Report for the second quarter of
    this year.

    Meanwhile, EquiTrust sits at 15th place, and a combination of the two will
    give Guggenheim about a 4.16% share of the indexed-annuity marketplace, equal to
    being the No. 10 player in the industry.

    The new arrangement will give Guggenheim a wider breadth of distribution
    partners overall.

    Security Benefit currently offers an exclusive indexed annuity via an
    arrangement with field marketing organization Advisors Excel and is a fairly new
    entrant to that product marketplace. Meanwhile, EquiTrust has been around since
    1997 and has a variety of other field marketing organizations that sell its
    indexed annuities, said Sheryl Moore, president of AnnuitySpecs.

    Other indexed-annuity experts noted that from a distribution point of view,
    EquiTrust’s business might be more compatible within Guggenheim’s structure
    compared with where it had fit with FBL, which also sells property/casualty
    insurance and life coverage.

    “FBL’s customer base is made of people in the rural markets; it’s a very
    stable product line,” said Judith Alexander, director of sales and marketing at
    Beacon. “In the independent-agent channel, things are far more competitive. It
    might have been a better fit with Guggenheim.”

    “We’re narrowing our focus for FBL more on the Farm Bureau niche,” said Nancy
    Doll, spokeswoman for FBL. The Farm Bureau niche largely offers life insurance
    products through a career agent force, while EquiTrust had sold its products
    through independent agents.

    Guggenheim spokeman Jeffrey Kelley did not immediately return a call for.

    Originally Posted at Investment News on October 7, 2011 by Darla Mercado.

    Categories: Sheryl's Articles
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