Press Release | Financial Technology & Services (FTS)

AmeriLife® Announces Growth Investment from Thomas H. Lee Partners to Continue Rapid Expansion

January 7, 2020

PR Newswire

7 January 2020

AmeriLife Group, LLC (“AmeriLife” or the “Company”), the national leader in marketing and distributing life, health, and retirement solutions, today announced that it has entered into a recapitalization agreement with an investor group led by Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. (“THL”), a premier private equity firm investing in growth companies, and other investors including Cannae Holdings and certain THL limited partners. Terms of the transaction, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020 subject to customary closing conditions, were not disclosed. THL is acquiring a majority stake from J.C. Flowers & Co., LLC (“J.C. Flowers”), a leading private investment firm dedicated to investing globally in the financial services industry, and other investors.

“We are excited to partner with THL in the next phase of our growth, building upon the success of our more than four-year relationship with J.C. Flowers & Co.,” said Scott R. Perry, CEO of AmeriLife. “THL has a strong track record of partnering with management to add long-term, sustainable value to great companies like AmeriLife. THL’s deep industry expertise and financial and operational resources will enhance AmeriLife’s capabilities and provide financial flexibility to accelerate our growth.”

Under Scott Perry’s leadership, AmeriLife has grown significantly, fueled by expansion of the Medicare market and through strategic acquisitions that have expanded the company’s broad capabilities in serving the financial needs of pre-retirees and retirees. AmeriLife has remained focused on delivering a compelling value proposition to the agent and advisor community, as well as to their carrier partners, helping to position them to better serve clients.

“Scott and the AmeriLife team have done an incredible job building a leading market position with strong leadership and an unrivaled distribution platform that is poised for further growth and expansion,” said Ganesh B. Rao, Managing Director at THL. “We look forward to working alongside this talented team to further support its impressive growth trajectory, and to help fulfill their mission of providing powerful marketing and technology services and a selection of the best life and health insurance, wealth management, and retirement planning solutions available in the marketplace.”

“It has been a pleasure for J.C. Flowers & Co. to support AmeriLife’s extraordinary growth and the development of the company’s management team,” said Eric Rahe, Managing Director at J.C. Flowers & Co. “We couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome of our investment and with the future growth outlook for AmeriLife. The company is well-positioned to continue as the leading independent national distributor in the life and health insurance industry.”

Evercore and Jefferies LLC served as financial advisors to AmeriLife, and Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs served as financial advisors to THL.

About AmeriLife
AmeriLife is a national leader in developing, marketing and distributing life and health insurance, annuities and retirement planning solutions to enhance the lives of pre-retirees and retirees. For nearly 50 years, AmeriLife has partnered with the nation’s leading insurance carriers to provide value and quality to customers served through a national distribution network of over 140,000 insurance agents and advisors, 20 marketing organizations, and 50 insurance agency locations. Visit www.AmeriLife.com and follow AmeriLife on Facebook and LinkedIn for more information.

About Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P.
Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. (“THL”) is a premier private equity firm investing in growth companies headquartered in North America. THL focuses its investment activity across four industry sectors: Financial Services, Consumer, Healthcare and Technology & Business Solutions. Since its founding in 1974, THL has raised more than $25 billion of equity capital, invested in over 140 companies and completed more than 360 add-on acquisitions representing an aggregate enterprise value at acquisition of over $200 billion. With dedicated sector and operating teams, THL brings deep domain expertise and resources to build great companies by helping to accelerate growth, improve operations and drive long-term sustainable value in partnership with management. Visit www.THL.com for more information.

About J.C. Flowers & Co. LLC
J.C. Flowers is a leading private investment firm dedicated to investing globally in the financial services industry. Founded in 1998, the firm has invested more than $15 billion of capital in 55 portfolio companies in 18 countries across a range of industry subsectors including banking, insurance and reinsurance, securities firms, specialty finance, and services and asset management. With approximately $6 billion of assets under management, J.C. Flowers has offices in New York and London. For more information, please visit www.jcfco.com.

SOURCE AmeriLife