General Electric Unit Buys Another Insurer

GE Capital Corp. has closed its $1.78 billion deal to acquire the insurance company First Colony Corp.

Stamford, Conn.-based GE Capital has been a large seller of annuities through banks via GNA Corp., a Seattle-based subsidiary. With the acquisition of First Colony, Lynchburg, Va., GNA is set to become a specialist in selling term insurance through banks.

First Colony is a $9.3 billion-asset insurance underwriter that has established a small presence in banks by marketing its wares through independent insurance brokerage firms.

The deal to buy First Colony was announced in August. The insurer is the sixth GE has bought in three years.

Though GNA is expanding into various distribution channels, the company started in 1980 selling exclusively through banks.

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