Latest news with #Brighthouse
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why Brighthouse Financial (BHF) Stock Is Up Today
What Happened? Shares of insurance and annuity provider Brighthouse Financial (NASDAQ:BHF) jumped 9.5% in the morning session after reports surfaced that the company is in exclusive talks to be acquired by investment firm Aquarian Holdings. The news, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, indicated that a deal could be finalized within a few weeks. This development follows a period of exploration by Brighthouse, which had reportedly been working with bankers on a potential sale for much of the year. Life insurance and annuity companies like Brighthouse have increasingly become attractive targets for private equity firms and asset managers. These buyers are often drawn to the large asset bases of insurers, which they can manage and deploy into their own investment strategies. The potential acquisition by Aquarian highlights a strategic interest in Brighthouse's substantial financial operations and its undervalued assets. Is now the time to buy Brighthouse Financial? Access our full analysis report here, it's free. What Is The Market Telling Us Brighthouse Financial's shares are quite volatile and have had 18 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today's move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business. The previous big move we wrote about was 8 days ago when the stock gained 3.8% as investors reacted to an analyst rating from Barclays, which reiterated its "overweight" rating on the stock. While Barclays lowered its price target on the life insurance and annuity provider to $70 from $76, the firm maintained its positive "overweight" rating. An overweight rating suggests that the analyst believes the stock is likely to outperform the broader market or its sector in the near future. Investors appeared to be focusing on the maintained positive outlook and the fact that the new $70 price target still implies a significant potential upside from the stock's current price. Brighthouse Financial is up 6.6% since the beginning of the year, but at $51.16 per share, it is still trading 18.8% below its 52-week high of $62.97 from February 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Brighthouse Financial's shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $1,742. Today's young investors likely haven't read the timeless lessons in Gorilla Game: Picking Winners In High Technology because it was written more than 20 years ago when Microsoft and Apple were first establishing their supremacy. But if we apply the same principles, then enterprise software stocks leveraging their own generative AI capabilities may well be the Gorillas of the future. So, in that spirit, we are excited to present our Special Free Report on a profitable, fast-growing enterprise software stock that is already riding the automation wave and looking to catch the generative AI next.
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Brighthouse bidders narrow to TPG, Aquarian in hunt to buy US insurer, sources say
By David French NEW YORK (Reuters) -Brighthouse Financial has narrowed down a field of suitors to money manager TPG and Abu Dhabi-backed financial investor Aquarian Holdings, as the U.S. life insurance and annuity provider continues to explore a potential sale, according to people familiar with the matter. The pair have progressed to the final bidding round in recent days, the people said. Final bids are currently scheduled for submission in early July, although this timeline could shift, some of them added. While there was interest from other parties, including a bid from the insurance arm of investment firm Sixth Street, as well as an offer from fellow insurer Jackson Financial to buy part of Brighthouse's operations, the two remaining parties are best positioned to buy the entire company in one piece, they said. Apollo Global Management, which has a substantial insurance business, was expected to be a strong contender in the Brighthouse process but ultimately did not submit a bid by the mid-June deadline for offers, according to two other sources. All of the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the process is confidential, cautioned that a deal was not guaranteed and Brighthouse, which has a market value of roughly $3.4 billion, could ultimately remain an independent company. Brighthouse, Apollo and TPG declined to comment. Sixth Street, Aquarian and Jackson did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Financial Times reported earlier on Tuesday that TPG and Aquarian had emerged as leading bidders. Charlotte, North Carolina-based Brighthouse, which was spun out of MetLife in 2017, has been exploring the possibility of a sale for most of this year. It was reported in January that the company was working with bankers on a possible deal. Even as the number of contenders has narrowed in recent days, it is likely to take weeks, or even months, before a potential agreement is struck with a winner, given the time needed to complete steps including the complex due diligence process and any raising of outside finance to support their offer, the people said. U.S. life insurance and annuity providers in recent years have been attracting takeover interest from private equity firms and other asset managers that can take the underlying assets and deploy them into their various strategies. As well as earning higher returns on the insurance assets, the method helps turbo-charge firms' other products. For TPG, one of the last major alternative asset managers without a substantial insurance arm, acquiring Brighthouse would give it a platform from which to build out a broader insurance business. While Aquarian already owns some insurance assets, and formed subsidiary Aquarian Insurance Holdings in March to combine its insurance operations, buying Brighthouse is also regarded as a platform play, the sources said. Aquarian is a holding company focused on insurance and asset management businesses that is backed by investors including RedBird Capital Partners and Abu Dhabi state fund Mubadala. Brighthouse shares have gained roughly 12% so far in 2025, significantly outperforming the approximately 5% rise in the S&P insurance index. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Brighthouse bidders narrow to TPG, Aquarian in hunt to buy US insurer, sources say
By David French NEW YORK (Reuters) -Brighthouse Financial has narrowed down a field of suitors to money manager TPG and Abu Dhabi-backed financial investor Aquarian Holdings, as the U.S. life insurance and annuity provider continues to explore a potential sale, according to people familiar with the matter. The pair have progressed to the final bidding round in recent days, the people said. Final bids are currently scheduled for submission in early July, although this timeline could shift, some of them added. While there was interest from other parties, including a bid from the insurance arm of investment firm Sixth Street, as well as an offer from fellow insurer Jackson Financial to buy part of Brighthouse's operations, the two remaining parties are best positioned to buy the entire company in one piece, they said. Apollo Global Management, which has a substantial insurance business, was expected to be a strong contender in the Brighthouse process but ultimately did not submit a bid by the mid-June deadline for offers, according to two other sources. All of the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the process is confidential, cautioned that a deal was not guaranteed and Brighthouse, which has a market value of roughly $3.4 billion, could ultimately remain an independent company. Brighthouse, Apollo and TPG declined to comment. Sixth Street, Aquarian and Jackson did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Financial Times reported earlier on Tuesday that TPG and Aquarian had emerged as leading bidders. Charlotte, North Carolina-based Brighthouse, which was spun out of MetLife in 2017, has been exploring the possibility of a sale for most of this year. It was reported in January that the company was working with bankers on a possible deal. Even as the number of contenders has narrowed in recent days, it is likely to take weeks, or even months, before a potential agreement is struck with a winner, given the time needed to complete steps including the complex due diligence process and any raising of outside finance to support their offer, the people said. U.S. life insurance and annuity providers in recent years have been attracting takeover interest from private equity firms and other asset managers that can take the underlying assets and deploy them into their various strategies. As well as earning higher returns on the insurance assets, the method helps turbo-charge firms' other products. For TPG, one of the last major alternative asset managers without a substantial insurance arm, acquiring Brighthouse would give it a platform from which to build out a broader insurance business. While Aquarian already owns some insurance assets, and formed subsidiary Aquarian Insurance Holdings in March to combine its insurance operations, buying Brighthouse is also regarded as a platform play, the sources said. Aquarian is a holding company focused on insurance and asset management businesses that is backed by investors including RedBird Capital Partners and Abu Dhabi state fund Mubadala. Brighthouse shares have gained roughly 12% so far in 2025, significantly outperforming the approximately 5% rise in the S&P insurance index.
