The insurance industry continues to face major challenges.
Declining asset values and increased credit risk have placed pressure on capital buffers. Raising or optimising regulatory capital requires industry expertise, such as through securitisations or intra-group reorganisations. For insurers and reinsurers in Europe, the efficacy of such structures under Solvency II must also be considered.
Management of assets and liabilities to achieve matching and mitigate larger risks is another key area. For example, the need to manage longevity risk is crucial for life insurers which have significant annuity books.
With values low and regulatory uncertainty high (including in relation to the emerging implementation measures for Solvency II) there are opportunities for M&A, whether as a result of insurance companies divesting their non-core assets or others, such as banks, selling their insurance arms. Again financing is the key issue with larger deals probably needing equity financing.
The firm’s insurance lawyers are renowned for devising innovative restructuring and financing techniques for the sector to help our clients achieve their business goals. Our clients rely on Linklaters to guide them through the changes that continue to affect the insurance industry, so they can overcome the issues they face and take advantage of the opportunities. They gain the benefit of expert advice from global specialists in corporate insurance, M&A, litigation, restructuring and insolvency, capital markets, tax, employment and regulatory matters.
Contact us
To discuss legal issues with Linklaters’ global insurance team, please contact sector leaders Duncan Barber, Wolfgang Krauel, Teresa Ma, Stan Renas, Victoria Sander, Dan Schuster-Woldan or Scott Sonnenblick,
Recent insurance transactions include advising:
- on the US$20bn offering and listing of AIA Group - the, largest insurance sector IPO ever, the largest Hong Kong offering ever, the largest listing on a single exchange ever and the third largest IPO in the world ever (Deal of the Year, Best IPO – FinanceAsia Awards 2010)
- New York Life Insurance Company on the sale of its insurance businesses in China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Thailand
- the banks on Aviva’s £5bn Euro Note Programme, the first “Solvency II” MTN Programme by a UK insurer
- Rothesay Life (Cayman) Limited on the £260m acquisition of Paternoster
- Credit Suisse on the Ping An Insurance RMB 29.1bn acquisition of Shenzhen Development Bank
- Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company on a strategic alliance with Talanx AG, Germany
- on acquisitions of interests in New China Life Insurance Co Ltd
- Allianz on the issue of €500m convertible Notes with scheduled maturity in 2041 and with contingent mandatory conversion (the first "coco" issued by a European insurer)
- the trustees to the Rolls-Royce Pension Fund on a £3bn longevity swap entered into with Deutsche Bank
