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Q:
What happened to GE Long Term Care Insurance?
A:
To be precise, GE Long Term Care does not and never has existed.
Even when GE Financial offered LTC Insurance, they never referred
it as GE Long Term Care. The holding company was GE Financial
and the underwriter was GE Capital Assurance Company. A copy
of a press release from General Electric follows:
Fairfield, Conn., November
18, 2003 - GE announced
today its intention to pursue an initial public offering (IPO)
of a new company named Genworth Financial, Inc. that will comprise
most of its life and mortgage insurance operations. GE expects
to file a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission in the first half of January 2004 and complete
the IPO in the first half of 2004, subject to market conditions
and receipt of various regulatory approvals.
"This IPO is both an important
step in the transformation of GE and a significant opportunity
for Genworth," said GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt. "We
continue to execute on the clear portfolio and capital allocation
strategies that we have articulated to create a faster-growth
GE. We have made tremendous progress, but in doing so we have
limited the capital available to our insurance businesses. As
a separate public company, Genworth will be able to pursue its
own strategy with direct access to the capital markets to fund
its own business initiatives."
GE will hold an investor meeting
and conference call at 8:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday, November 19,
to discuss the significance of this move to GE and the GE earnings
outlook for 2004. The meeting and related materials will be Webcast
at www.ge.com/investor.
GE plans to sell approximately
30% of the equity of the new company in the IPO, and expects,
subject to market conditions, to reduce its ownership position
over the next three years as Genworth transitions to being a
fully independent company. The amount GE will receive in the
IPO will depend on market conditions and on other factors. GE
intends to use the proceeds to invest in growth initiatives and
reduce "parent-support debt" at GE Capital.
GE has previously announced its
intent to reduce the level of its insurance-related assets from
approximately 40% to approximately 15% of its total financial
services assets. The businesses GE will contribute to the new
company represented approximately 20% of GE's financial services
assets and approximately half of the assets of GE's Insurance
segment at September 30, 2003. As of that date the businesses
had a book value of approximately $10 billion, net of assets
to be retained by GE.
GE Financial Assurance Holdings,
Inc. (GEFAHI, the holding company for GE's principal U.S. life
and mortgage insurance operations) will transfer substantially
all of its businesses to Genworth. In addition, GE will transfer
its international mortgage insurance and European payment protection
businesses to Genworth. GE will retain certain consumer marketing
and financing operations, including GE Mortgage - Mexico and
the Partnership Marketing Group, as well as U.K.-based GE Life.
GE will also retain an interest in certain run-off blocks of
U.S. insurance business. GE's other principal insurance business,
Employers Reinsurance Corporation, will not be part of the IPO.
All of GE's insurance companies
will continue to serve their policyholders and distributors and
conduct business as usual throughout the IPO process.
In connection with the transfer
of substantially all of GEFAHI's assets to Genworth, Genworth
will assume GEFAHI's obligations under its outstanding yen-denominated
notes due 2011. To facilitate the transition to the new company,
GEFAHI's commercial paper program will be unconditionally guaranteed
by GE Capital Corporation and will not be assumed by Genworth.
This press release is not an
offer to sell, or solicitation of offers to buy, any securities.
Q: I heard some European company bought GE's insurance
business. Is this true?
A: On November 18, 2005, General Electric Company (GE)
and Swiss Reinsurance Company (Swiss Re) entered into a Transaction
Agreement. In that Transaction Agreement GE agreed to sell, and
Swiss Re agreed to buy, the property and casualty business of
GE Insurance Solutions Corporation (Insurance Solutions), their
reinsurance and primary commercial insurance subsidiary. This
has nothing to do with the Long-Term Care insurance business
from General Electric.
Q:
What does all of this mean to me as a policy holder of GE Long
Term Care Insurance?
A:
It means your policy is now serviced by Genworth Life Insurance
Co. All provisions and benefits remain the same. This "spin-off"
has no effect on you.
Q: What is the difference between the following types
of insurance:
- long term care insurance
longterm care insurance
ltc insurance
nursing home insurance
senior care insurance
elder care insurance
A: There are no differences. These are basically
all synonyms. The proper phrase is Long Term Care Insurance.
Q: How do I get more information about long term
care insurance?
A: CLICK
HERE. |
