Aflac To Swap Equities, Cutting Impairment Charge By $34 Million
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Aflac Inc. (AFL) said Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LYG) will exchange two of
Aflac's investment securities, cutting write-downs Aflac expected to book in the
fourth quarter by about $34 million.
Aflac's move reduces its concentration in the so-called hybrid securities,
which are perpetual debentures that do not have a stated maturity date. Aflac
invested heavily in hybrids to match the company's long-dated policy liabilities
in Japan, its biggest market.
At the end of the third quarter, Aflac held about $9.4 billion in perpetual
debentures, mostly issued by European banks. Concern has grown over the
investments as banks in Europe have increasingly needed government support and
some worried that debt payments could be cut off. In the third quarter, Aflac
took a $212 million impairment on the securities.
The company said Tuesday it will exchange its investment in Lloyds TSB Bank
yen-denominated perpetual securities, valued at $222 million on Sept. 30, into
yen-denominated, fixed-maturity securities. Aflac also will swap its holdings of
Bank of Scotland yen-denominated perpetual securities, valued at $188 million,
for yen-denominated fixed-maturity securities.
Aflac had previously expected to book a fourth-quarter charge of about $100
million. After the securities swaps, the company now the company expects to book
a loss of $66 million.
The newly issued securities will convert to common equity if Lloyd's published
consolidated core Tier I capital ratio drops below 5%.
Aflac Chief Financial Officer Kriss Cloninger III said exchanging the two
securities "will modestly benefit our risk-based capital ratio."
In October, Aflac said its third-quarter profit nearly quadrupled on reduced
investment losses and increased premiums, but it warned that it would miss its
annual U.S. market sales target as it remains cautious about the U.S. economy.
Shares were recently down 1.6% at $44.19. The stock is off 3.6% this year.
-By Nathan Becker, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2855; nathan.becker@
dowjones.com;
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-24-091036ET
Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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