Ellipse was founded in 2009 and has grown to become the 6th largest UK group life provider based on 2017 new business volumes. It reached an 8 per cent share of new business premiums and a 4 per cent share of in-force premiums in 2017.
As of May 2018, the company held approximately £64m of in-force premiums and nearly 4,500 in-force policies covering over 370,000 lives.
Ellipse offers life, critical illness and income protection products through a technology-enabled business model with high levels of straight through processing. AIG says the acquisition will position in to be able to efficiently manage group risk schemes for companies of all sizes.
The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2019, subject to required regulatory approval.
AIG Life & Retirement executive vice president and chief executive officer Kevin Hogan says: “The acquisition of Ellipse reflects our disciplined approach to selectively expanding our existing Life & Retirement businesses while pursuing opportunistic growth. Ellipse brings a strong team with a scalable business platform to our well-positioned, technology-driven UK life business. We look forward to welcoming the Ellipse team to AIG.”
AIGLL CEO Adam Winslow says: “Ellipse’s group life business is highly complementary to AIG’s existing UK individual protection offering. It positions us to capitalize on the strong growth potential in the UK group market by allowing us to provide a holistic suite of innovative protection products that better serve our clients and partners.
“Additionally, I’m excited to start working side by side with our Ellipse colleagues, who share a similar culture and entrepreneurial spirit, a mono-line protection focus and recognized technology leadership.”
Munich Re chief executive of life and health reinsurance in Europe, Latin America and the Middle East Thomas Braune says: “We are glad to have found a trusted partner for this deal in AIG, pairing the right strategic fit on their side with a good opportunity for us to re-focus our UK market approach. This is a great opportunity for both sides and we are looking forward to completing this deal soon.”
Ellipse CEOLee Lovett says: “I would like to thank Munich Re for supporting the development and growth of Ellipse over the last 9 years, such that we are now recognized as a mainstream group risk insurer. We now look forward to the next exciting chapter of our growth story with our new owner, AIG Life.”