Munich Re to acquire GroupHealth for the sake of its group life clients

Munich Re , through its subsidiary, Munich Re New Ventures (MRNV), has entered into an agreement to acquire GroupHealth Benefit Solutions , a third-party group insurance administrator in Canada.

Following the closing of the transaction, MRNV will own 100% of GroupHEALTH. MRNV previously held a 40% interest in the company. According to the press release, the acquisition holds special promise for Munich Re group life clients who are looking for transformational growth enablers.

“At the core of this acquisition is GroupHEALTH’s agile approach to addressing insurer growth and profitability. GroupHEALTH’s state-of-the-art sales and administration capabilities provide insurers efficient access to new markets, with an advanced customer interface.” – Marc Costantini, President & CEO, Corporate Development, Strategy & Digital Solutions, Munich Re North America Life and Health.

Four years ago, Munich Re established MRNV to identify competencies that would address the industry’s legacy system inefficiencies. The unit acts as an incubator of technology, distribution and product offerings for Munich Re’s clients and partners.

With the establishment of MRNV, Munich Re identified two paths: 1) through the development of a comprehensive direct to consumer platform, ultimately named Parachute Digital Solutions  brought to market in 2017, and 2) strategic investment in the group insurance distribution and administration network, specifically, in a third-party administrator that could offer modern, flexible and scalable technology that could bring continuous innovation and value to clients.

“Munich Re’s planned acquisition of GroupHEALTH is in line with our innovation strategy . Our strategy is to build a structure that allows us to easily and quickly bring new ideas and products to market that will help our clients improve market reach, customer experiences and operations.” – Richard Letarte, President & CEO, Munich Re New Ventures.

GroupHEALTH will continue to be led by Matt Houghton, GroupHEALTH’s CEO and his executive team. There are no changes expected to GroupHEALTH’s operating model, personnel, service model or standards.