MetLife Board Okays $1.5 Bln Share Buyback Program

(RTTNews) - MetLife Inc. (MET) said that its board has approved a new $1.5 billion authorization for the company to repurchase its common stock. In 2017, MetLife announced a $2 billion repurchase authorization and the company has bought back approximately $1.63 billion of its common stock under that board authorization. Approximately $370 million remains under the 2017 authorization.

MetLife Chairman, President and CEO Steven Kandarian said, "We are on track to return approximately $5 billion of capital to our shareholders in 2018."

MetLife said it plans to divest its shares of Brighthouse Financial, Inc. common stock as soon as practicable and is considering a variety of transactions to do so. The company expects to complete the divestiture prior to the end of 2018 and does not expect the structure of any such transaction to affect its plans to repurchase shares of MetLife, Inc. common stock in 2018.