Springfield’s Horace Mann to acquire Madison National Life Insurance for $172.5 million

Springfield’s Horace Mann to acquire Madison National Life Insurance for $172.5 million

Springfield-based Horace Mann Education Corp. announced Wednesday it plans to acquire a Madison, Wisconsin-based school district insurance provider for $172.5 million.

Already a staple in providing insurance for K-12 educators, Horace Mann’s acquisition of Madison National Life Insurance will expand its ability to provide group disability and group life insurance policies to its members while giving it a foothold in a new market.

“The transaction accelerates our progress on all fronts of our multi-year strategic plan: strengthening our product offerings, enhancing our distribution, and adding capabilities to our infrastructure,” said Horace Mann president and CEO Marita Zuraitis in a news release. “This ultimately will help us achieve our long-term objectives of a sustainable double-digit (return on equity) and significant education market share growth.”

Pending regulatory approval by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the acquisition is expected to be finalized in the first quarter of 2022. The move comes almost exactly two years after Horace Mann’s acquisition of supplemental insurance provider National Teachers Associates Life Insurance Company was finalized.

“With 60 years of experience, Madison National today delivers flexible, scalable solutions to school districts through a modern, user-friendly platform,” said Bob Stubbe, a senior executive at Madison National. “We look forward to joining forces with Horace Mann to continue to serve the education market with financial solutions that meet the needs of school districts and educators.”

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Horace Mann is expected to add $100 million to its credit line to fund the acquisition. As part of the deal, Horace Mann said it will enter a long-term distribution deal with National Insurance Services, a subsidiary of AssuredPartners Inc., which has been distributing Madison National’s policies for decades.

Investors were briefed on the acquisition Wednesday morning. The transaction is expected to immediately provide $7 to $9 million, an increase of $0.15 to $0.20 a share, in earnings in the year following the acquisition being finalized, Horace Mann said.