Manulife Strikes $4.3 Billion Reinsurance Deal With RGA Life (1)

Manulife Financial Corp. struck another deal to offload some of its less-profitable assets, agreeing to reinsure C$5.8 billion ($4.3 billion) of Canadian policies with RGA Life Reinsurance Co. of Canada.

The deal will allow the Toronto-based insurer and asset manager to release C$800 million in capital, which it plans to return to shareholders through share buybacks, according to a statement Monday. Manulife will continue to administer the policies, which are a block of Canadian universal life-insurance policies with a low return on equity.

Roy Gori

Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg

“This transaction is the largest universal life reinsurance transaction in the Canadian insurance industry and ...