Allstate Sells Its Employer Voluntary Benefits Unit; Stock Jumps To Record

Allstate (ALL) shares reached an all-time high Wednesday after the insurance provider announced it sold its Employer Voluntary Benefits business to privately owned StanCorp Financial Group, also known as The Standard, for $2 billion.

The insurer said Tuesday that the move was the first step in its plan to enable its three Allstate Health & Benefits insurance units—Employee Voluntary Benefits, Individual Health, and Group Health—to “realize their full growth potential by combining them with companies that have additional capabilities.” 

Allstate Aims To Sell Two Other Health & Benefits Units

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tom Wilson said that Allstate was continuing discussions to sell off the Individual Health and Group Health segments, which “are expected to achieve the same success.”

Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jess Merten said that Allstate believes the agreement with StanCorp will “generate a gain of about $600 million and increase deployable capital by $1.6 billion.” Merten added that adjusted net income return on equity will decline by about 100 basis points (bps) after the closing of the transaction, which is expected in the first half of next year. 

Allstate stock jumped 4.7% as of 3 p.m. ET Wednesday to $180.05 after earlier hitting $181.28, a new all-time high, and joined the top four performers for the day in the S&P 500. Shares have risen about 29% in 2024.