David Luce

Willkie represented American Family Mutual Insurance Company, S.I., as a selling stockholder in the secondary offering of Bowhead Specialty Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BOW), a growing specialty insurance business providing casualty, professional liability and healthcare liability insurance products. Bowhead Specialty recently announced the underwritten secondary public offering of 4,000,000 shares of its common stock by American Family and certain of its other stockholders at a price to the public of $29.00 per common share. In connection with the offering, which closed on October 25, the selling stockholders granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 600,000 shares of company’s common stock, which option was exercised in full. Willkie previously represented American Family Mutual Insurance, a shareholder and co-founder of Bowhead Specialty, in connection with the company’s initial public offering. The Willkie team was led by partners Jeffrey Hochman and David Luce and included associate M. Scott Greenberg.

Oct 29

1 min

Willkie advised American Family Insurance Group (“American Family”) in a new partnership with Gallatin Point Capital, whereby funds managed by Gallatin Point have acquired a majority stake in the attorney-in-fact for Trusted Resource Underwriters Exchange (“TRUE”), a reciprocal insurer established by American Family in 2020 to serve homeowners in storm-prone regions of Florida and other parts of the country. In connection with the transaction, Gallatin Point is investing over $1.25 billion into TRUE, enabling it to provide additional underwriting capacity in Florida and to strategically expand its footprint nationally. American Family will remain a minority owner in the attorney-in-fact and continue providing distribution and client services such as claims handling and call center support. Closing was announced on January 2, 2024. American Family Insurance Group is the nation’s 12th-largest property/casualty insurance group, ranking No. 301 on the Fortune 500 list. The American Family Insurance Group also includes CONNECT, powered by American Family Insurance, The General, Homesite and Main Street America Insurance. The Willkie team was led by partners David Luce, Laura Delanoy, David Heales and Allison Tam and included partners Spencer Simon, Jordan Messinger and Vadim Mahmoudov, and associates Christian Truman, Kristin Barry, Melissa Khajaei, Sherrone Torres, Daniel Iverson, Shay Moyal, Andrew O’Conner and Dana Lake.

Jan 4

1 min

On July 24, Willkie client Prudential Financial, Inc. announced an agreement to reinsure a portion of its guaranteed universal life block with Somerset Re, resulting in approximately $450 million of net proceeds. Under the terms of the agreement, Somerset Re will reinsure approximately $12.5 billion of reserves backing Prudential’s guaranteed universal life policies issued by Pruco Life Insurance Company and Pruco Life Insurance Company of New Jersey. This transaction, covering policies written prior to 2015, represents approximately one-third of Prudential’s total guaranteed universal life statutory reserves. Willkie previously represented Prudential in numerous transactions, including its recent agreement to reinsure a $10 billion block of variable annuities with an affiliate of Constellation Insurance Holdings, Inc. Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU) is a global financial services leader and premier active global investment manager with approximately $1.4 trillion in assets under management as of March 31, 2023. The Willkie team was led by partners Gregory Astrachan and Michael Stern and included partners Mark Proctor and David Luce.

Jul 24

1 min

Willkie advised iA Financial Corporation Inc., the holding company of iA Financial Group, a leading Canadian insurance and wealth management group, in its acquisition of Vericity, a leader in direct-to-consumer life insurance solutions. On October 3, iA Financial announced that it entered into a definitive merger agreement whereby its subsidiary iA American Holdings, Inc. will acquire Vericity for $170 million. Vericity, a publicly traded company majority-owned by J.C. Flowers & Co., comprises two entities servicing the middle-market life insurance space: Fidelity Life, an insurance carrier, and eFinancial, a direct-to-consumer digital agency. iA Financial Group is one of the largest insurance and wealth management groups in Canada, with operations in the United States. It has approximately $207.8 billion in assets and more than four million clients. The Willkie team was led by partners David Luce and Jeffrey Hochman and included associate Christian Truman.

Oct 6

1 min

On September 7, Willkie client Warburg Pincus and Prudential Financial, Inc. announced the launch of Prismic Life Reinsurance, Ltd., a licensed Class E Bermuda-based life and annuity reinsurance company. Prudential and Warburg Pincus, together with a group of investors, have agreed to make equity investments in Prismic totaling $1 billion. Prudential and Warburg Pincus will initially own 20% and 15% of the equity in Prismic, respectively. Prudential plans to reinsure to Prismic a block of structured settlement annuity contracts with reserves of approximately $10 billion, subject to the receipt of required regulatory approvals. Prudential intends Prismic to be a strategic reinsurance partner going forward, with PGIM and Warburg Pincus providing asset management services to Prismic. Warburg Pincus is a leading global growth investor with more than $83 billion in assets under management. The Willkie team was led by partners Matthew Stern, Dvir Oren and Mark Cognetti and included partners David Luce, Mark Vandehaar, Arthur Lynch, Guy Inbar and Jordan Messinger.

Sep 13

1 min