Japan's Sumitomo Life is in talks to purchase Symetra Financial Corp, a U.S. life insurance company with a market value of about $3.1 billion, a person familiar with the matter said, the latest deal in the making by acquisitive Japanese insurers looking for growth drivers overseas.Reuters reported earlier Symetra has been exploring the possibility of selling itself in recent months and possible suitors include Japanese insurers. Sumitomo Life and Symetra are not likely to reach an agreement in the imminent future and the talks could go on for some time, said the person, who was not authorised to discuss the matter publicly.Sumitomo Life, Japan's fourth-largest life insurer by assets, has drawn attention as the next Japanese insurer likely to make a big buy in the United States after its two bigger rivals made multi-billion deals in the world's largest life insurance market.
Symetra Financial Corporation is a financial services company in the life insurance industry. Shares of SYA traded higher by 9.4% or $2.3/share to $26.77. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $20.23 and as high as $27.21. On average, 379723 shares of SYA exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 1281902.
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