Chicago-based Bankers Life & Casualty Co., with $1.5 billion in assets, will be sold to Conseco Inc., a huge insurer based near Indianapolis, the companies said Wednesday.
The deal calls for Conseco to acquire Bankers Life, as well as another subsidiary, for about $600 million from ICH Corp. of Louisville, Ky.
The agreement also calls for Conseco, an insurance and financial services holding company based in Carmel, Ind., to manage $1 billion of investments by other ICH subsidiaries.
The deal is expected to be completed during the second quarter. Conseco spokesman James W. Rosensteele said it would be the 10th insurance company acquired by Conseco, including four with $5.5 billion in assets acquired by Conseco Capital Partners, a Delaware-based limited partnership established in May 1990.
The deal allows ICH to retain an interest in Bankers Life while obtaining capital as part of a restructuring program. ICH will provide a quarter of the financing for the deal, $150 million, and retain a 40 percent stake in Bankers Life.
The subsidiary included in the deal, Certified Life Insurance Co. of Granada Hills, Calif., has $125 million in assets. Conseco had assets of $11.7 billion through the first nine months of 1991.
Conseco Chairman Stephen C. Hilbert said Bankers Life has a long history of profitability.
