MetLife To Sell Auto & Home Unit To Zurich Insurance For $3.94 Bln; To Buy Back $3 Bln Shares

(RTTNews) - Financial services company MetLife, Inc. (MET) announced Friday that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell Metropolitan Property and Casualty Insurance Co. and certain subsidiaries to Farmers Group, Inc., a unit of Zurich Insurance Group, for $3.94 billion in cash

MetLife and Farmers are targeting the transaction to close in the second quarter of 2021, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

The company expects to report its property & casualty business as a divested business in the first quarter 2021.

Farmers Group has informed MetLife that it will sell the insurance operations to the Farmers Exchanges.

In connection with the transaction, MetLife and the Farmers Exchanges have established a 10-year strategic partnership through which Farmers Insurance(r)(Farmers) will offer its personal lines products on MetLife's U.S. Group Benefits platform.

Separately, MetLife said its board of directors has approved a new $3 billion authorization for the company to repurchase its common stock. MetLife has completed repurchases under its prior repurchase authorization.