AFG COMPLETES SALE OF ANNUITY BUSINESS TO FOCUS ON SPECIALTY

Ohio-based American Financial Group has completed the $3.5bn sale of its annuity operations to Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance, enabling the group to focus on its specialty property/casualty operations. With the proceeds of the sale, AFG has declared a $1.2bn, $14 per-share special dividend and authorised the repurchase of up to an additional 5m common shares through 2025. “The disposition of our annuity business sharpens our focus exclusively on the specialty property/casualty market and generates substantial excess capital for AFG,” said co-chief executives Carl Lindner and S Craig Lindner. Included in the sale were Great American Life Insurance, its Annuity Investors Life Insurance and Manhattan National Life Insurance units, its Great American Advisors broker-dealer affiliate, and intermediary AAG Insurance Agency.