Press Releases

CARMEL, Ind., Jan. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Conseco, Inc. (NYSE: CNO) said today that it received the necessary regulatory approvals and completed the previously announced transaction under which its Bankers Life and Casualty Company subsidiary ("Bankers Life") coinsured, with an effective date of October 1, 2009, about 234,000 life insurance policies with Wilton Reassurance Company ("Wilton Re"). At closing, Wilton Re paid Bankers Life a ceding commission of approximately $44 million and 50% coinsured these policies, which Bankers Life will continue to service and administer.

"This transaction is expected to increase Conseco's consolidated risk-based capital ratio by 9 percentage points, along with increasing statutory capital by the amount of the ceding commission," said Conseco CEO Jim Prieur.

As part of the transaction, Bankers Life transferred to Wilton Re approximately $73 million in investment securities and policy loans and $117 million of statutory policy and other liabilities.

As previously announced, Conseco expects to record (as a result of the transaction) an increase to its deferred tax valuation allowance of approximately $18 million in the fourth quarter of 2009. Conseco also expects to record a pre-tax deferred cost of reinsurance of approximately $30 million, which, in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"), will be amortized over the life of the underlying policies, reducing quarterly pre-tax income from operations by approximately $0.5 million. In addition, Conseco's future GAAP income from operations will be reduced by the earnings from the portion of the block that is coinsured; such pre-tax earnings before overhead were approximately $2 million in the third quarter of 2009.

About Conseco

Conseco, Inc.'s insurance companies help protect working American families and seniors from financial adversity: Medicare supplement, long-term care, cancer, critical illness and accident policies protect people against major unplanned expenses; annuities and life insurance products help people plan for their financial futures. For more information, visit Conseco's website at www.conseco.com.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements. Our statements, trend analyses and other information contained in this press release relative to markets for Conseco's products and trends in Conseco's operations or financial results, as well as other statements, contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements typically are identified by the use of terms such as "anticipate," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "project," "intend," "may," "will," "would," "contemplate," "possible," "attempt," "seek," "should," "could," "goal," "target," "on track," "comfortable with," "optimistic" and similar words, although some forward-looking statements are expressed differently. You should consider statements that contain these words carefully because they describe our expectations, plans, strategies and goals and our beliefs concerning future business conditions, our results of operations, financial position, and our business outlook or they state other ''forward-looking'' information based on currently available information. Assumptions and other important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in our forward-looking statements include, among other things: (i) our ability to continue to satisfy the financial ratio and balance requirements and other covenants of our debt agreements; (ii) general economic, market and political conditions, including the performance and fluctuations of the financial markets which may affect our ability to raise capital or refinance existing indebtedness and the cost of doing so; (iii) our ability to generate sufficient liquidity to meet our debt service obligations and other cash needs; (iv) our ability to obtain adequate and timely rate increases on our supplemental health products, including our long-term care business; (v) the receipt of any required regulatory approvals for dividend and surplus debenture interest payments from our insurance subsidiaries; (vi) mortality, morbidity, the increased cost and usage of health care services, persistency, the adequacy of our previous reserve estimates and other factors which may affect the profitability of our insurance products; (vii) changes in our assumptions related to the cost of policies produced or the value of policies in force at the effective date; (viii) the recoverability of our deferred tax assets and the effect of potential ownership changes and tax rate changes on its value; (ix) our assumption that the positions we take on our tax return filings, including our position that our 7.0% convertible senior debentures due 2016 will not be treated as stock for purposes of Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and will not trigger an ownership change, will not be successfully challenged by the Internal Revenue Service; (x) changes in accounting principles and the interpretation thereof; (xi) our ability to achieve anticipated expense reductions and levels of operational efficiencies including improvements in claims adjudication and continued automation and rationalization of operating systems, (xii) performance and valuation of our investments, including the impact of realized losses (including other-than-temporary impairment charges); (xiii) our ability to identify products and markets in which we can compete effectively against competitors with greater market share, higher ratings, greater financial resources and stronger brand recognition; (xiv) the ultimate outcome of lawsuits filed against us and other legal and regulatory proceedings to which we are subject; (xv) our ability to complete the remediation of the material weakness in internal controls over our actuarial reporting process and to maintain effective controls over financial reporting; (xvi) our ability to continue to recruit and retain productive agents and distribution partners and customer response to new products, distribution channels and marketing initiatives; (xvii) our ability to achieve eventual upgrades of the financial strength ratings of Conseco and our insurance company subsidiaries as well as the impact of rating downgrades on our business and our ability to access capital; (xviii) the risk factors or uncertainties listed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission; (xix) regulatory changes or actions, including those relating to regulation of the financial affairs of our insurance companies, such as the payment of dividends and surplus debenture interest to us, regulation of financial services affecting (among other things) bank sales and underwriting of insurance products, regulation of the sale, underwriting and pricing of products, and health care regulation affecting health insurance products; and (xx) changes in the Federal income tax laws and regulations which may affect or eliminate the relative tax advantages of some of our products. Other factors and assumptions not identified above are also relevant to the forward-looking statements, and if they prove incorrect, could also cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. All forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by the foregoing cautionary statements. Our forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made. We assume no obligation to update or to publicly announce the results of any revisions to any of the forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, future events or developments, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting the forward-looking statements.

SOURCE: Conseco, Inc.

Web site: http://www.conseco.com/