MetLife to Buy Versant Health

MetLife has reached an arrangement to invest in the managed vision-care business Versant Health from a group of traders led by Centerbridge Partners and which include FFL Partners for $1.675 billion in an all-hard cash transaction.

Versant owns the market manufacturers Davis Eyesight and Outstanding Eyesight, which has about 35 million users. MetLife stated following the offer it would develop into the 3rd-greatest vision insurance provider by membership in the U.S. The business has made available group vision considering the fact that 2012 and it has a fifteen% marketplace share in U.S. group positive aspects. It stated immediately after the acquisition it will have about 38 million vision-care users.

It is financing the offer with hard cash on hand.

“We are self-assured this acquisition will make our marketplace-foremost group positive aspects business enterprise even a lot more interesting,” Ramy Tadros, president of U.S. business enterprise for MetLife, stated. “The addition of the solid Davis Eyesight and Outstanding Eyesight manufacturers will quickly establish MetLife as a leader in managed vision care.”

MetLife stated it envisioned the offer to be accretive to earnings per share and free hard cash stream and would have an internal rate of return in the high teens.

“This transaction furthers our objective of deploying cash to the best-price opportunities,” MetLife chief govt officer Michel Khalaf stated in a assertion. “We assume this combination to accelerate revenue advancement when offering better price for our prospects and shareholders.”

MetLife approved a $2 billion share buyback in July 19.

MetLife’s share price tag is down a lot more than 26% year-to-day, as opposed to an eighteen% drop year-to-day for the SPDR S&P Coverage ETF.

The offer is envisioned to near in the fourth quarter of this year.

MetLife shares were up just about 2% in morning trading.

Coverage, metlife, Versant Health