By Sasha Harrinanan Wednesday, August 8 2012

Almost nine months after US-based insurance giant Pan American Life Insurance Group (PALIG) signed a document to acquire MetLife’s Caribbean and Central American assets and businesses, the company has received regulatory approval to complete its acquisitions in Trinidad and Tobago, St Lucia, Panama, Costa Rica and in the Cayman Islands.

MetLife is the parent company of ALGICO — the American Life and General Insurance Company (Trinidad & Tobago) Limited, whose asset base as of 2010, was in excess of TT $1 billion.

ALGICO operates in the Eastern Caribbean, Barbados, the Netherlands Antilles, Aruba and the Cayman Islands under the name American Life Insurance Company (ALICO).

This is the second time ALGICO has been sold in less than two years (20 months). In November 2010, MetLife bought the company from its original parent company, American Insurance Group (AIG).

According to a release issued by PALIG, the Louisiana-based provider of insurance and financial services said it “expects to receive regulatory approval and close on the remaining Caribbean countries over the next few months.”

Once this is completed, the company will have acquired approximately US $675 million in assets, encompassing 15 countries in Central America and the Caribbean. In total, the acquisition will represent more than $170 million in revenues (as of 2010).

Chairman of the Board, President and CEO of Pan-American Life Insurance Group, Jose S Suquet said ALGICO/ALICO customers in the Caribbean and Central America “will benefit from being insured by a provider that has a high-quality asset base, a strong balance sheet, financial strength ratings of A (Excellent) from AM Best and Fitch Ratings, an expanded footprint and 100 years of experience with a distinct focus of life and health insurance in the Americas.”

Suquet also said acquiring MetLife’s regional assets was a perfect fit for PALIG’s “strategic focus of becoming a leading life and health insurance carrier with international reach for insureds of both our corporate and personal lines.”

“Additionally, it ranks PALIG in the top three among life and/or health insurance carriers in nearly all markets in which it competes outside of the United States,” Suquet stated.

In connection with the acquisition, a PALIG insurer is now a MAXIS Global Benefits partner in the Caribbean, Panama and Costa Rica, as well as in Central America and Ecuador. The MAXIS Global Benefits Network is a worldwide network created by MetLife and AXA to deliver optimal local insurance coverage to multinational companies through their own operations as well as independent carriers.