Sagicor Life Insurance Company and its ultimate parent company, Sagicor Financial Corporation, have filed an application for a proposed acquisition of PEMCO Life Insurance Company. Sagicor Life Insurance Company is named to acquire to all outstanding common stock of PEMCO Life.

PEMCO Life Insurance Company is a Washington-domiciled stock insurance company operating as a life insurer incorporated in 1963. PEMCO Life’s parent company, PEMCO Mutual Insurance Company,  is a Washington-domiciled mutual insurance company operating as a property and casualty insurer incorporated in 1948.

Sagicor Life Insurance Company is a Texas-domiciled stock insurance company operating as a life insurer incorporated in 1954. Sagicor Financial Corporation is a Barbados publicly-traded corporation located in St. Michael, Barbados and traded on the Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago, and London Exchanges.

Also, Sagicor Life stated that it intends to merge PEMCO Life with and into Sagicor Life with Sagicor Life remaining as the surviving entity within one year of closing the proposed purchase.  This intended merger would be decided later during the year after the Commissioner receives an application of plan of merger and conducts a hearing.

As to this application, the Commissioner will decide the proposed acquisition of all outstanding common stock of PEMCO Life after an adjudicative hearing has been conducted.

History of the process

We received the application for acquisition of control in mid March 2012. Our review of that application is under review now completed. A hearing was held at the Insurance Commissioner Office, 5000 Capitol Blvd., Tumwater, WA  98501 on September 13, 2012 at 10:00 am.  Notice of Hearing The judge approved the application with an effective date of September 14, 2012.

What we look at

In any proposed acquisition, the companies must file an application (Form A) that details:

• Financial information for both companies;
• Who will operate the insurer at the highest levels;
• Their business plan for the insurer; and
• How the market competition would be impacted.

Evaluation criteria

Under state law, the commissioner must approve the deal unless:

• It would substantially lessen competition or create a monopoly;
• The buyer’s plans are unfair and unreasonable to the policyholders of the insurer;
• The buyer isn’t competent, honest, or financially sound enough to run a insurer; or
• It is in some way “hazardous or prejudicial to the insurance-buying public”.

Updated 02/15/2013