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In one swift move, a Carmel-based life insurance holding company has boosted its assets by $100 million and increased its insurance in force nearly five times. For Conseco Inc., a growth strategy counting on frequent acquisitions and efficient marketing methods appears to have paid off fast.
The company, founded in Carmel in August of 1979, finalized the acquisition of a new subsidiary on Feb. 22, replacing another subsidiary that it recently sold to facilitate the purchase. Memphis, Tenn.-based Lincoln American Life Insurance Co. now becomes the only subsidiary of Conseco.
Conseco bought Lincoln American from American General Corp., a Houston-based company with assets of approximately $19 billion in its various insurance subsidiaries.
In order to help meet the $25 million price tag on Lincoln American, Conseco sold its former lone subsidiary, Consolidated National Life Insurance Co., to Dixie National Corp. of Jackson, Miss.
With Consolidated National, Conseco had assets of $12 million and insurance in force of $250 million. Now, by replacing Consolidated National with Lincoln American, Conseco's assets climb to $113 million, and insurance in force stands at $1.2 billion, a figure that the company says places it in the top 25 percent of all life insurance companies in the country.
Conseco financed the purchase of Lincoln American through $20 million in cash and an additional $5 million in a promissory note to American General. The cash portion was largely financed by three banks.
Manufacturers Hanover Bank of New York is the lead bank and Cincinnati's Central Trust Bank and locally based Merchants National Bank are also participants in the financial package, which amounts to $18...