Sun Life eyes U.S. insurance acquisitions

By Andrea Hopkins

TORONTO (Reuters) - Sun Life Financial Inc SLF.TO said on Thursday it is seeking acquisitions to expand its U.S. insurance business but believes organic growth is the better way to gain market share in mutual funds.

Sun Life, the fifth-largest insurer in North America by market capitalization, is making a push into the United States, aiming to take advantage of market consolidation after the financial crisis that crippled competitors like AIG.

"If we have opportunities on the insurance side of the business, where we can find blocks of business or perhaps companies that have the right type of business on their books now, with good risk characteristics, then we would be very interested in exploring those," Sun Life President Jon Boscia said in an interview after the company made presentations in New York.

Announcing an advertising campaign aimed at U.S. babyboomers through outlets like NFL Football and Fox Television, Boscia said Canada's third-largest life insurer is well-positioned to gain market share in the United States, free of the baggage of bankruptcies and bailouts that have plagued U.S. rivals.

Retiring Americans are looking to be reassured about the security of investments and annuities they need to supplement their U.S. Social Security income, as well about stability of the insurer or mutual fund company itself.

"Another way of looking at that is not only do they not want to outlive their savings, they don't want to outlive the provider of that cash flow either," Boscia said.

As proof of its relative conservatism, Sun Life said it is willing to miss opportunities to expand its Boston-based fund manager MFS Investment Management through acquisitions, because they are often hard to harmonize.

The purchase of assets that Sun Life could easily transfer into the MFS franchise -- grown organically over 85 years rather than through acquisitions -- were another matter, however.