MassMutual buys Ohio-based insurer for $3.5B

Jan. 28—Springfield-based MassMutual upped its stake in annuities this week with a deal to buy Great American Life Insurance Co. from its parent company, American Financial Group.

In a statement released Wednesday, MassMutual said it agreed to pay $3.5 billion for the subsidiary, which offers traditional fixed and fixed indexed annuity products. The transaction is expected to close within the second quarter of this year, bringing about 600 new employees under MassMutual's umbrella.

Company officials said those workers will remain in their current offices in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Mark Muething, who has served as president of Great American Life Insurance Co. since 2018, will stay on in that role.

Roger Crandall, MassMutual's chairman, CEO, and president, hailed the buyout as an important boon to the firm's existing annuity business.

"This acquisition is an excellent strategic fit for MassMutual that will broaden our product offerings, expand our distribution, and generate additional earnings, allowing us to build a true lifetime income franchise and deliver ongoing value to our policy owners and customers," Crandall said.

MassMutual is in the process of closing down its sprawling campus in Enfield and moving those jobs about eight miles north, to Springfield.

Earlier this month, Colorado-based Empower Retirement finalized its $3.35 billion purchase of MassMutual's retirement plan business, which is based on Bright Meadow Boulevard. Empower officials said they planned to keep the division's employees where they are.

Great American Life has been in business since 1872, when it started out in New York City as the German American Insurance Co. It changed its name to Great American Life Insurance Co. at the end of World War I due to prevailing anti-German sentiment.

The firm came under AFG's ownership in 1974.

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