MetLife, Inc.
Acquisitions
4
Major Deals Covered
$27.3B
Disclosed Deal Value
MetLife's largest disclosed acquisition here is American Life Insurance Company (Alico) for $15.5B in 2010. This page covers 4 major deals from 1996 to 2025, each with its price where disclosed and the reason behind it.
| Company | Year | Price | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| New England Mutual Life Insurance Company | 1996 | Undisclosed | Merger of two mutual insurers to add New England Financial's affluent-market distribution. |
| Travelers Life & Annuity (Citigroup) | 2005 | $11.8B | Added scale in US life insurance and annuities plus Citigroup's international insurance units. |
| American Life Insurance Company (Alico) | 2010 | $15.5B | Bought from AIG to expand in Japan, Europe and the Middle East. |
| PineBridge Investments | 2025 | Undisclosed | Grow MetLife Investment Management's third-party asset management business and add multi-asset and emerging-market capabilities. |
2025
Grow MetLife Investment Management's third-party asset management business and add multi-asset and emerging-market capabilities.
Combined business managed about $734.7B of assets at closing on December 30, 2025.
Integration under way in 2026; MIM now reported as a separate segment.
2010
$15.5B
Bought from AIG to expand in Japan, Europe and the Middle East.
Transformed MetLife into a major international insurer.
Alico's markets form much of MetLife's Asia and EMEA segments today.
2005
$11.8B
Added scale in US life insurance and annuities plus Citigroup's international insurance units.
Made MetLife the largest US life insurer by many measures at the time.
Much of the acquired US retail block later moved to Brighthouse Financial.
1996
Merger of two mutual insurers to add New England Financial's affluent-market distribution.
Expanded MetLife's individual life and investment product distribution.
New England Financial later became part of the US retail business separated as Brighthouse Financial.
MetLife's New Frontier strategy, announced in December 2024, focuses on four areas: expanding Group Benefits (especially voluntary and regional employer business), growing retirement and pension risk transfer, building MIM into a larger third-party asset manager, and expanding in high-growth international markets such as Japan, Latin America and the Middle East. The PineBridge acquisition (closed December 30, 2025) and continued buybacks support that plan, alongside expense discipline and technology investment.
MetLife makes money in three ways. First, it collects premiums and fees: in FY2025, premiums, fees and other revenues (PFOs) rose 10% to $57.6B, led by US Group Benefits (employer-paid and voluntary life, dental, disability, vision and accident coverage, including the federal FEGLI program) and Retirement & Income Solutions (pension risk transfer, structured settlements, stable value and funding agreements). Second, it invests the reserves backing those policies and earns net investment income on a general account of several hundred billion dollars. Third, MetLife Investment Management earns fees managing money for outside institutions. Profit depends on underwriting margins (claims versus premiums), the spread between investment yields and what is credited to policyholders, and expense control.
In November 2010, MetLife acquired American Life Insurance Company (Alico) from distressed insurance conglomerate AIG for $16.2 billion ($7.2B in cash and $9.0B in MetLife equity and securities). The transformative mega-deal instantly expanded MetLife into 50+ international countries, doubling its operating earnings from outside the US.
In 2005, MetLife acquired Travelers Life & Annuity (along with Citigroup's international insurance businesses) from Citigroup for $11.8 billion. The acquisition made MetLife the largest individual life insurer in North America and solidified its dominance in third-party broker and financial advisor distribution.
In December 2020, MetLife acquired Versant Health (owner of the prominent Davis Vision and Superior Vision networks) for $1.68 billion in cash. The acquisition brought roughly 35 million vision members into MetLife, making it the third-largest vision benefits administrator in the United States.
In 2019, MetLife acquired PetFirst Healthcare, an established pet health insurance administrator. MetLife integrated PetFirst into its US Group Benefits distribution platform, allowing corporate employers to offer pet insurance to millions of workers as an automatic payroll-deducted voluntary benefit.
In 2022, MetLife Investment Management acquired Affirmative Investment Management (AIM), an award-winning London-based specialist ESG fixed income investment manager with $1.0 billion in AUM, enhancing MIM's capabilities in global green bonds, social bonds, and sustainable impact investing.
In 1996, MetLife merged with New England Mutual Life Insurance Company (the nation's oldest chartered mutual life insurer, founded in 1835). The merger expanded MetLife's affluent client base and brought thousands of high-net-worth career financial advisors into its distribution network.
MetLife built an extensive property and casualty business (MetLife Auto & Home), but in 2021, MetLife divested the unit to Farmers Group (a subsidiary of Zurich Insurance Group) for $3.94 billion in cash, allowing MetLife to shed catastrophe weather risk and focus purely on employee benefits and asset management.
MetLife actively pursues bolt-on acquisitions of specialized private credit, real estate loan originators, and fixed-income boutique managers (such as Logan Circle Partners in 2017) to expand third-party AUM and fee revenues at MetLife Investment Management.
In 2017, MetLife spun off its US retail life insurance and individual variable annuity business as an independent public company called Brighthouse Financial. Retail variable annuities carried volatile capital reserves and market risks that depressed MetLife's valuation. Divesting Brighthouse allowed MetLife to transform into a lower-volatility, capital-light institutional benefits and asset management titan.
Compare corporate acquisition records, deal values, and strategic targets
Explore MetLife
Core profile pages, founders and related research hubs for this company.