Debevoise & Plimpton and Linklaters are representing Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company in its $2.28 billion all-cash acquisition of the U.S. protection business of Legal & General. Clifford Chance is advising Legal & General.
As part of the agreement, Meiji Yasuda will also acquire a five percent stake in the British asset management company. Furthermore, the two parties are establishing a strategic partnership where Meiji Yasuda will take a 20 percent interest in L&G’s U.S. pension risk transfer business, according to Reuters.
The firms involved and their teams are as follows.
Clifford Chance’s advisory team is led by relationship partner Anthony Oldfield, supported by M&A partner Joe Cosentino and insurance and investment management partners Dennis Manfredi and Jeffrey LeMaster. The team also includes senior associate Christine Kim, associates Natalie Tsang and Elliott Schreffler, tax partner Phil Wagman, and antitrust counsel Michael Van Arsdall. London-based lead relationship partner David Pudge and senior associate Niall O’Shea are handling UK aspects of the transaction.
Debevoise’s team is spearheaded by insurance M&A partners Alexander Cochran and Kristen Matthews, with support from associate Alexandra Grady. The team also includes associates Kaéla Edwards and Nicole Gany, law clerk Benjamin Oh, employee benefits and executive compensation partner Simone Hicks, associate Ally Farley, tax partner Lena Smith, associates Corey Mavleos and Robert Nelson-Sullivan, intellectual property partner Henry Lebowitz, associate Katelyn Bryant, national security partner Rick Sofield, and associate Jordan Corrente Beck.
The Linklaters team is led by global co-heads of the insurance sector Tracy Whiriskey and Duncan Barber, and corporate partner Yoshiyuki Asaoka. Other lawyers supporting the transaction include capital markets partners Motoyasu Fujita and Kenneth Lam, antitrust and foreign investment senior counsel Jonathan Gafni, and partners John Eichlin and Marcus Pollard, as well as financial regulation partner Alastair Holt.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close by the end of 2025.
