Symetra Financial Raises $282.5 Million in Net Primary Proceeds From IPO

U.S. life insurer Symetra Financial Corp. has raised about $282.5 million in net primary proceeds from its initial public offering of common stock.

Symetra (NYSE: SYA) earlier this week closed on its IPO of 30.4 million shares of stock at $12 per share. The offering consisted of 20,699,510 primary shares that it sold and 9,700,490 secondary shares sold by existing stockholders.

The underwriters exercised their over-allotment option and bought an additional 4.56 million primary shares of stock at the offering price, Symetra said. Including the shares purchased as a result of the over-allotment, the company sold just more than 25.25 million shares in the offering.

Symetra priced the IPO on Jan. 21 at the low end of its initial range at $12 and had so far raised $364.8 million as of Jan. 22 -- the day its stock started trading on the New York Stock Exchange (BestWire, Jan. 22, 2010).

The $364.8 million represents total proceeds from both primary as well as secondary shares sold by existing stockholders, while the $282.5 million is the total net proceeds Symetra received from the primary shares.

The now publicly traded Symetra was unable to comment on the IPO closing because it's in a quiet period.

Affiliates of White Mountains Insurance Group Ltd. and Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., which led the investor group that formed Symetra in 2004, weren't selling any shares in the offering, Symetra said (BestWire, Jan. 22, 2010).

Earlier this month, Symetra said it was seeking to raise more -- nearly $435 million -- in the IPO (BestWire, Jan. 8, 2010).

BofA Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan, Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Barclays Capital acted as joint book-running managers for the offering.

Steven Schwartz, an equity analyst with Raymond James, said the last IPO in the life industry was Genworth Financial (NYSE: GNW) in May 2004, when it was spun off from General Electric (BestWire, Jan. 22, 2010).

As of Jan. 27, Symetra had nearly 118 million shares of common stock outstanding.

On the morning of Jan. 29, Symetra's stock was trading at $12.90 a share, up 0.06% from the previous close.

Symetra Life Insurance Co. currently has a Best's Financial Strength Rating of A (Excellent).

(By Fran Matso Lysiak, senior associate editor, BestWeek: [email protected])