Lincoln National Corporation
Acquisitions
4
Major Deals Covered
$3.3B
Disclosed Deal Value
Lincoln National's largest disclosed acquisition here is Liberty Mutual Group Benefits Business for $3.3B in 2018. This page covers 4 major deals from 1997 to 2018, each with its price where disclosed and the reason behind it.
| Company | Year | Price | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jefferson-Pilot Corporation | 2006 | Undisclosed | Merger with the Greensboro, North Carolina, life insurer to gain scale in life insurance and annuities. |
| Liberty Mutual Group Benefits Business | 2018 | $3.3B | Expand Group Protection in group life, disability, and dental coverage. |
| Liberty Mutual Group Benefits | 2018 | Undisclosed | Bolstered position in workplace insurance and disability benefits. |
| Delaware Management Company | 1997 | Undisclosed | Asset management expansion. |
2018
$3.3B
Expand Group Protection in group life, disability, and dental coverage.
Made Lincoln one of the larger U.S. group life and disability carriers.
Forms a major part of today's Group Protection segment.
2018
Bolstered position in workplace insurance and disability benefits.
2006
Merger with the Greensboro, North Carolina, life insurer to gain scale in life insurance and annuities.
Roughly doubled Lincoln's life insurance business and added a large Greensboro operations base.
Jefferson-Pilot's broadcasting assets were later sold; its life business became part of Lincoln's core Life Insurance segment.
1997
Asset management expansion.
Since 2023 Lincoln has shifted sales toward products that tie up less capital: RILAs, fixed and indexed annuities, term and executive-benefit life insurance, and workplace benefits, while de-emphasizing guaranteed universal life and variable annuities with living benefits. It has paired that with reinsurance (the 2023 Fortitude Re deal), the 2024 sale of its wealth management business to Osaic, and the 2025 Bain Capital partnership, which added $825 million of equity and a 10-year investment management relationship. In Q2 2026, spread-based products made up 63% of $3.5 billion in annuity sales, and life sales rose 79% to $216 million.
Lincoln Financial makes money in four reporting segments. Annuities sells variable, fixed, indexed, and registered index-linked annuities (RILAs) through banks, broker-dealers, and independent advisors, earning fees and investment spread; ending account balances net of reinsurance reached a record $182 billion in Q2 2026. Life Insurance sells term, universal, indexed, variable, and executive-benefit policies, earning premiums, cost-of-insurance charges, and investment income. Group Protection sells disability, life, dental, vision, accident, critical-illness, and leave-management coverage to employers, earning premiums. Retirement Plan Services runs 401(k), 403(b), and 457 plans for employers, especially in healthcare, education, and government, with a record $131 billion in account balances in Q2 2026. In FY2025, revenue split into $6.666B of premiums, $5.496B of fee income, and $6.075B of net investment income, plus other revenue and realized gains or losses.
In 2006 Lincoln merged with Greensboro, North Carolina-based Jefferson-Pilot, significantly expanding its life insurance business.
In 2018 Lincoln acquired Liberty Mutual's group life and disability benefits business for about $3.3 billion.
Lincoln acquired Delaware Management Holdings in 1995 and sold Delaware Investments to Macquarie Group in 2010.
No. In 2023 Lincoln reinsured about $28 billion of in-force reserves to Fortitude Re to free capital; it was a reinsurance transaction, not an acquisition.
Lincoln has favored reinsurance, divestitures such as the 2024 Osaic sale, and partnerships such as Bain Capital over large acquisitions.
To maintain massive national scale, they execute highly aggressive mega-mergers. In 2006, they executed the absolute most important acquisition in their history: buying Jefferson-Pilot for a staggering $7.5 billion. This massive deal instantly doubled the size of their life insurance business and gave them absolute dominance in the highly lucrative employer-sponsored benefits market.
Compare corporate acquisition records, deal values, and strategic targets
Explore Lincoln National
Core profile pages, founders and related research hubs for this company.