AmerUs acquired by U.K. company

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Nov 17, 2006 by Michael Hooper

By Michael Hooper

THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

Aviva plc, the largest insurance company in the United Kingdom, has completed its acquisition of AmerUs Group Co. for $2.9 billion.

AmerUs Group Co., based in Des Moines, Iowa, has 200 employees in Topeka at 555 S. Kansas Avenue, a company official said.

AmerUs Group Co. said its shareholders earlier this year voted to approve the $2.9 billion acquisition by Aviva plc. The sale was completed on Wednesday. Aviva is the world's fifth-largest insurance group.

Aviva has 58,000 employees serving 35 million customers worldwide - primarily with long-term savings products, fund management services and general insurance offerings. Aviva has assets under management of more than $600 billion and sales of more than $65 billion.

AmerUs is a top-20 provider of fixed life insurance annuities and is the leader in the indexed life market , according to A.M. Best company reports.

The group also ranks in the top five among national producers of indexed annuities.

Mark Heitz, an executive vice president of Aviva USA in Topeka, said the company would be changing AmerUs signs to Aviva soon. He said AmerUs had $25 billion in assets and $2 billion in surplus. Aviva has $600 billion in assets and $35 billion in surplus .

Heitz said he would expect further growth of annuity sales as a result of the sale. Currently, he said, the AmerUs annuity group has $15 billion in annuities under management compared with $2 billion to $3 billion nine years ago.

"We will be focusing on increasing our growth rate," Heitz said. "They want us to become the largest and best annuity company in the United States."

"Employment over time will go up," Heitz said, adding that Washburn University has provided some top talent in the work force. "We have a lot of great people here. That's the reason we're so successful here."

Michael Hooper can be reached at (785) 295-1293 or michael.hooper@cjonline.com.