U.S. law firm Latham & Watkins has advised Japan’s largest insurance provider, Nippon Life Insurance, on its agreement to acquire 20 percent stake in Corebridge Financial, a retirement solutions and investment products company, from American Insurance Group (AIG) for $3.84 billion.
AIG was represented by Wall Street law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, while Corebridge was guided by Debevoise & Plimpton.
The deal is part of AIG's efforts to reduce its holdings in the life and retirement business, which it had listed as a separate company in 2022 following years of pressure from activist investors, Reuters reported.
Under the terms of the transaction – the largest ever for Nippon - AIG has agreed to maintain a 9.9 percent ownership stake in Corebridge for two years after the closing.
The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025, AIG said in a statement.
Latham’s team acting for Nippon was led by Tokyo partner Hiroaki Takagi and Chicago partners Bradley Faris and Jason Morelli.
Advice on corporate matters was provided by Tokyo partners Hiroki Kobayashi and Yohei Nakagawa; on tax matters by Chicago partner Diana Doyle; on insurance matters by New York partners Gary Boss and Analisa Dillingham; on compensation and benefits matters by Chicago partner Benjamin Rosemergy; on foreign direct investment matters by Washington, D.C. partner Jim Barker; and on antitrust matters by Century City/Washington, D.C. partner Makan Delrahim, Frankfurt partner Max Hauser, and Hamburg partner Jana Dammann.
The Debevoise team advising Corebridge was led by capital markets partners Eric Juergens and Paul Rodel. The team also included insurance M&A partner Marilyn Lion, employee benefits and executive compensation partner J. Michael Snypes Jr., banking partners Gregory Lyons and Jeff Robins, investment management partner Marc Ponchione, antitrust partners Ted Hassi and Timothy McIver, and national security partner Rick Sofield.
