Genworth Preps Units For Possible Sale

By Robert Dixon

InsuranceNewsNet

Genworth Financial has placed Chief Financial Officer Martin Klein in charge of overseeing two business units the company has targeted for possible sale, the insurance firm announced on Feb. 25.

Separately, Genworth announced that Klein was given the additional title of executive vice president and will be in charge of operations for the company’s international protection and wealth-management businesses.

Genworth is considering selling non-core businesses as it seeks to boost value for shareholders by divesting units that aren’t central to its strategy, Klein said in October, according to Bloomberg.

About the same time last fall, Reuters quoted anonymous sources as saying that Genworth was negotiating to sell a wealth management unit to with private equity firms Genstar Capital and Aquiline Capital Partners. A deal for the wealth management unit and the insurer’s alternative investments business could be worth $400 million to $450 million, Reuters said. Those businesses are part of a unit that reported a loss of $40 million in the fourth quarter of 2012.

In his added new role, Klein “will lead the related priorities of increasing International Protection’s and Wealth Management’s value and exploring options to realize that value,” Tom McInerney, Genworth chief executive officer, said in a statement.

In October, Genworth announced a realignment of its divisions. The company operates through three divisions: The U.S. Life Insurance Division comprises the U.S. life insurance unit, which includes life insurance, long-term care insurance and fixed annuities.  The Global Mortgage Insurance Division business includes its international and U.S. mortgage insurance units. The Corporate and Other Division comprises the international protection segment, which includes the lifestyle protection insurance business, the wealth management segment and the runoff segment, which encompasses Genworth’s variable annuity, variable life insurance, institutional, corporate-owned life insurance and Medicare supplement insurance products.

Klein became Genworth's chief financial officer in 2011. He has nearly 30 years of experience working in financial services, according to the company statement.

Genworth Financial Inc. is a Fortune 500 insurance holding company with more that $10 billion in revenues in 2012.

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