BY JOHN J. BYCZKOWSKI
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Taking a chance on medical risks has paid off for the U.S. Financial Life Co. of Cincinnati.
The life insurance underwriter is being acquired by MONY Life Insurance Co., a subsidiary of the MONY Group Inc. of New York, for $48 million. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of the year.
USFL will continue to operate as a separate entity, keeping its offices in downtown Cincinnati, said Paul Aniskovich, president and chief executive of the company. The company today has 80 employees, up from four in 1990. "We've grown substantially at a time when the industry has been flat," Mr. Aniskovich said.
The company writes life insurance policies for people with medical risks, such as coronary artery disease and Type II diabetes. USFL calls this "clinical underwriting." Mr. Aniskovich said these afflictions are controllable if the people follow prescribed programs.
USFL has 35,000 clients, with $5 billion in policies in force, and assets of $150 million. The company sells the policies through independent agents.
"U.S. Financial Life has been highly successful in developing a unique market niche among some of the largest brokerage general agencies in the country," said Samuel Foti, MONY's president and chief operating officer. "This transaction provides MONY with access to that market, as well as a unique and additive underwriting capability."
Mr. Aniskovich said MONY hopes to take advantage of USFL's relationships with independent brokers to sell other life insurance products.
USFL was formed out of the ashes of Manhattan National Life, a life insurance underwriter sold in 1989 to Pioneer Life Services by Union Central Life Insurance Co. Mr. Aniskovich, who was CEO of Manhattan National, and other executives from the company acquired Michigan Mutual Insurance Co. of Detroit and moved it to Cincinnati.
The company's name and focus were changed. Since 1990 it has received $27.5 million in capital from a number of investors, half coming from the Ohio Teachers Retirement System.
Management owns about 8 percent of the company, Mr. Aniskovich said.
