Hartford: Restructuring Plan Is Going Well

The Hartford Financial Services Group said its plan to focus on its core operations and sell off non-core assets is going well. “We concluded the strategic evaluation of the businesses and announced our plan to focus on the property/casualty, group benefits and mutual funds businesses. This is The Hartford’s best path forward to deliver greater value for shareholders,” said CEO Liam McGee during the May 3 earnings call.

The sales processes for individual life, retirement plans and Woodbury Financial are going well, McGee noted. “The offering memoranda for each are in the marketplace. There is great interest in each property. We expect to have a competitive auction process, and we expect definitive agreements later this year.”

The Hartford said in late April that it is selling its individual annuity operations to Forethought, a Houston-based financial services company. The Hartford first announced its restructuring plan back in March, bowing to demands from its biggest shareholder, hedge fund manager John Paulson, to simplify its corporate structure and separate its P/C business from the life insurance business.