Insurance and Reinsurance

Paul Hastings’ global insurance team brings decades of collective experience in insurance and reinsurance industry transactions and dispute matters. Our lawyers have been involved in many of the industry’s most significant transactions, acting as M&A, corporate, securities, and regulatory counsel to many of the industry’s leading stakeholders.

Our clients include U.S. and international insurers, reinsurers, asset management firms, insurance intermediaries, private fund sponsors, and other capital providers and financial sponsor-backed investors across all sectors of the insurance industry, including the life, annuity, property/casualty, healthcare, and long-term care sectors. 

Transactional

Our global insurance team has advised on some of the most high profile and complex insurance industry transactions in recent years and brings a sophisticated understanding of the issues, trends, nuances, and challenges involved in deals in the space.  

M&A: The team has deep experience in counseling clients on a wide gamut of M&A transactions in the insurance industry, including:

public and private merger transactions stock sales and acquisitions block reinsurance transactions loss portfolio transfers leveraged buyouts recapitalizations

asset sales and acquisitions joint ventures PE and VC investments spin-offs and split-offs issuer and third party tender offers hostile takeovers and defenses

Our ability to counsel our clients effectively and efficiently on insurance industry M&A transactions is informed by our team’s deep understanding of the unique aspects of an insurance company’s operations and the attendant insurance regulatory, investment law, securities law, taxation, and accounting framework within which insurers conduct their businesses.

Capital Raising: Our practice group members also advise insurance and reinsurance clients in a wide range of capital raising transactions, including public and private debt and equity financings and tax-efficient capital raising. We also regularly represent insurance industry clients in hedging and other derivatives transactions, as well as structured financing arrangements.

As part of Paul Hastings’ global platform, our transactional insurance team is able to call upon the resources of experienced lawyers across a variety of practice areas that are often relevant to deals in the sector, including global finance, securities, tax, data privacy, cybersecurity, fintech and technology, antitrust, commercial litigation and arbitration, employee benefits, and investment funds.

Insurance Regulatory

Our team’s expertise includes a comprehensive understanding of virtually all aspects of insurance regulatory compliance and enforcement and has deep experience advising insurance companies, insurance intermediaries, investment companies, and other stakeholders with respect to a broad range of insurance regulatory and corporate matters. These matters include the formation and licensing of insurance companies, mergers and acquisitions involving insurance companies, and enforcement, corporate governance, cybersecurity, enterprise risk, and general compliance matters. 

Our team has represented clients before almost every insurance regulatory authority in the United States and maintains deep relationships with key staff at such regulators. Specific areas of focus for our team include:

• Insurance Holding Company Act matters, including overseeing acquisition of control, affiliate transaction, and related processes;
• advising mutual insurers on the regulatory aspects of demutualization and mutual holding company transactions;
• advising industry participants on the evolving standards applied to environmental and social governance to which they may be subject; and
• insurance investment laws, including current changes being contemplated to this regime by state insurance regulatory authorities and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

Complex Litigation & Arbitration

Our insurance specialists have represented insurers and reinsurers, including many of the world’s largest, in disputes in various domestic and international forums (litigation and arbitration) totaling billions of dollars in potential exposures over the years. These have included disputes involving political risk insurance, international trade credit insurance, international surety insurance, and international fidelity insurance.

Our team also has expertise in litigation and arbitration involving:

• insurance coverage claims;
• coverage of defense and declaratory-judgment expenses;
• claims of rescission for nondisclosure in underwriting;
• arbitrability of disputes; and
• complex employment cases.