Continuing its goal to pursue business opportunities on foreign soil, Tokio Marine announced that it has agreed to purchase Privilege Underwriters, Inc. (PUI) for $3.1 billion from investors led by Stone Point Capital and KKR. PUI, which does business through the PURE Group of Insurance Companies (PURE Group), includes several business entities dedicated to serving the needs of high-net-worth clients, including PURE Risk Management, PURE Insurance Company, PURE Programs, and Haven Art Group. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020.

The $3.1 billion price-tag is 33-times PURE Group's forecast profit for 2020; however, Tokio Marine's Chief Executive Satoru Komiya said in a news conference, "We are paying for PURE's  big potential growth." Following the acquisition, AM Best placed PURE Group's financial strength and credit rating under review, with "positive implications" considering Tokio Marine's successful track record with past dealings.

Investing overseas

Earlier this year, Komiya explained the possibility of up-coming large-scale acquisitions in the U.S. and Europe, Bloomberg reported, which has come to fruition with the PURE deal. The transaction marks Tokio Marine's fourth sizable acquisition in the U.S. in 11 years, not counting its most recent U.S. acquisition of cyber insurance specialist NAS Insurance Services in April 2019. Tokio Marine's last big U.S. acquisition — Houston-based HCC Insurance Holdings — closed at $7.5 billion in 2015.