Exhibit 99
Contact: Paul E. Mason
January 14, 2004 Vice President - Corporate Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Jefferson Pilot Financial
336-691-3313
JEFFERSON PILOT FINANCIAL TO ACQUIRE CANADA LIFE'S U.S. GROUP INSURANCE DIVISION
GREENSBORO, N.C., January 14, 2004 - Jefferson-Pilot Corporation (NYSE:JP) today
announced that it has agreed to acquire the U.S group life, disability and
dental business of The Canada Life Assurance Company, an indirect subsidiary of
Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSX:GWO). The reinsurance transaction is expected to
close during the first quarter of 2004, following regulatory approvals.
Jefferson Pilot will be making a commitment of approximately $200 million to the
business, and the transaction is expected to provide Jefferson Pilot modest
earnings accretion over the next 12 months after financing and transition costs,
and to be more accretive in following years.
The Atlanta-based business will become part of Jefferson Pilot's Benefit
Partners group insurance operation, which is based in Omaha, Neb. As a result of
the transaction, on a pro forma basis the combined operations would rank seventh
in new sales of group life insurance, sixth in long-term disability insurance
sales and fifth in short-term disability insurance sales, based on third quarter
2003 LIMRA rankings. Following the acquisition, Jefferson Pilot will be
positioned with approximately $1 billion of group life, disability and dental
insurance premium, one-third of which is from the acquisition.
Jefferson Pilot Financial President Dennis R. Glass said, "This acquisition
achieves our near-term objectives of increasing distribution breadth and
manufacturing scale to continue generating strong and profitable organic growth
in the group insurance business."
William T. McCallum, co-President and Chief Executive Officer of Great-West
Lifeco and President and Chief Executive Officer of Denver, Colo.-based Great-
West Life & Annuity Insurance Company, said, "We are pleased that Canada Life's
U.S. group customers will be moving to Jefferson Pilot, a company with strong
financial ratings and a commitment to the
Jefferson Pilot/Canada Life
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group life, disability and dental market. This sale will allow Great-West Life &
Annuity to continue to focus on its core healthcare and retirement services
businesses, and to redirect freed up capital back into these businesses."
Robert D. Bates, President of Jefferson Pilot Benefit Partners, will lead the
integration of Canada Life's U.S. Group Insurance Division with Jefferson Pilot
Benefit Partners.
"Both Canada Life and Jefferson Pilot Benefit Partners are committed to working
together to assure a smooth and efficient transition to Jefferson Pilot for
Canada Life's current group customers, distribution systems and home office
employees," Bates said. "Canada Life's business strategy and market position is
very consistent with Jefferson Pilot's rapidly growing employee benefits
business, and its distribution network will blend nicely with Jefferson Pilot
Benefit Partners and will accelerate our planned expansion. This combination
will enable us to further leverage our unique business model and technology
platform which provides online, real-time services to our customers, and will
further enhance the fixed expense advantage we have in this business."
Conference Call
Jefferson Pilot senior management will discuss the transaction in a conference
call on Wednesday, Jan.14 at 11 a.m. (EST). The conference call may be accessed
via Jefferson Pilot's Internet homepage http://www.jpfinancial.com by selecting
Investor Relations and the link provided. A replay of the call will be provided
through Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2004.
Jefferson Pilot Financial
Jefferson-Pilot Corporation, a holding company (NYSE:JP), is one of the nation's
largest shareholder-owned life insurance companies. Jefferson Pilot Financial's
life insurance and annuity companies, principally Jefferson-Pilot Life Insurance
Company, Jefferson Pilot Financial Insurance Company and Jefferson Pilot
LifeAmerica Insurance Company, offer full lines of individual life insurance and
group life, disability and dental insurance products, in addition to annuity and
investment products. Jefferson-Pilot Communications Company owns and operates
three network television stations and 17 radio stations, and produces and
syndicates sports programming. Additional information on Jefferson Pilot
Financial can be found at www.jpfinancial.com.
This release includes forward-looking statements, and any forward-looking
statements may turn out to be wrong. They can be affected by inaccurate
assumptions or by known or unknown risks and uncertainties that could affect our
actual results significantly. These risks and uncertainties include, among
others, general economic conditions, the impact on the economy of any further
terrorist activities or any U.S. military engagements, and interest rate levels,
changes and fluctuations, all of which can impact our sales, investments, and
earnings; our failure to successfully complete the integration of our recently
announced group acquisition; competitive factors, including pricing pressures,
technological developments, new product offerings, and the emergence of new
competitors; changes in federal and state taxes; changes in the regulation of
the financial services industry; or changes in other laws and regulations and
their impact. We undertake no obligation to publicly correct or update any
forward-looking statements. Readers are advised to consult any further
disclosures we make on related subjects in our press releases and filings with
the SEC; in particular, see the section entitled "External Trends and Forward
Looking Information," and other sections it may reference, in our most recent
10-K report to the SEC, as it may be updated in our subsequent 10-Q and 8-K
reports