A Barbadian company is acquiring the life insurance business of a company in which the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has a majority stake.
According to the terms of the deal, Sagicor Financial Co. Ltd. will acquire Ivari, a subsidiary of Wilton Re Ltd., for US$325 million. The CPPIB has held a majority stake in Wilton Re since 2014.
Previously known as Transamerica Life Canada Co., the Toronto-based Ivari provides life insurance and critical illness products to about 700,000 Canadian policyholders. It also manages assets worth $13.9 billion.
According to a press release, the CPPIB expects the sale to reinvigorate William Re’s focus on reinsurance. “This transaction is a continuation of Wilton Re’s efforts to evolve its business and provide life insurers with customized solutions to meet their capital needs,” said Sam Blaichman, managing director and head of North American direct private equity at the CPPIB.
In other news, the real estate arm of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is adopting a nostalgic strategy to revivify interest in shopping malls.
Until Sept. 4, 2022, guests at the Cadillac Fairview’s Richmond Centre in British Columbia will be able to visit a revival room, which showcases late-1990s and early-2000s fashion and technology. Guests may also participate in themed trivia competitions with winners receiving gift cards redeemable inside the mall. The strategy seeks to reignite interest in shopping malls among people who grew up in the period.
While the move comes amid a wave of interest in the era’s fashions, it isn’t just the mall’s customers feeling a twinge of nostalgia. Between 1996 and 2006, the vacancy rate of U.S. malls, as tracked by Moody’s Analytics REIS, was between six and eight per cent. Since 2010, vacancy rates have averaged above 10 per cent.
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