The Standard to Acquire Allstate’s Employer Voluntary Benefits Business for $2B

StanCorp Financial Group Inc., also called The Standard, announced Tuesday it will acquire the Allstate Corp.’s employer voluntary benefit business for about $2 billion. 

The companies will enter into a product distribution partnership, and the transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2025, subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions, according to The Standard. 

The Standard’s retirement plan business provides recordkeeper and plan administrative services to employers. The company acquired Securian Financial’s recordkeeping business in December 2022, bringing on about $17 billion in assets under administration. The Standard currently lists $66.7 billion in total AUA on its website.  

Both The Standard and Allstate are workplace benefits providers with expertise in benefits administration. Allstate’s employer voluntary benefits business includes voluntary workplace benefits like whole life, universal life, accident, hospital indemnity, cancer and critical illness insurance.  

“Allstate’s Employer Voluntary Benefits business provides protection to over 3.5 million customers who will continue to be well served by The Standard,” said Tom Wilson, chair, president and CEO of Allstate, in a statement. “The alignment between Allstate’s industry leading product offerings, employer relationships, distribution and talented team and The Standard’s group benefits business will provide customers with broader protection and higher value. Allstate agents will now offer a broader array of options to customers under a five-year exclusive distribution arrangement.” 

According to The Standard, the transaction will “significantly accelerate” the company’s growth and “expand the scale and competitive position of the company’s employee benefits business in the U.S.” 

“The rationale for this acquisition is to complement our workplace benefits offerings with an expanded set of voluntary and supplemental benefits that are increasingly desired by employers and employees,” a spokesperson at The Standard said. “This addition and the on-going partnership with Allstate’s exclusive agent network bring employee talent and expertise, greater scale to our workplace benefits businesses and a comprehensive suite of employee benefit offerings that meet the needs of employers of all sizes.”

Under the agreement, The Standard will become Allstate’s exclusive carrier for sales of group life and disability, guaranteed standard issue individual disability, supplemental and voluntary products distributed by Allstate’s exclusive agents.  

Citi is acting as exclusive financial adviser, and Debevoise & Plimpton is acting as legal adviser to The Standard. For Allstate, J.P. Morgan and Ardea Partners are acting as financial advisers, and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP is acting as a legal adviser.