Aflac Incorporated acquires Japan Post Holdings Co., Ltd. (strategic capital alliance)

Aflac Incorporated acquired Japan Post Holdings Co., Ltd. (strategic capital alliance) for Approximately 7% equity stake in Aflac (dollar value not disclosed in filing), a transaction announced in December 2018, structured as open-market equity purchase via trust; non-dilutive. The deal was a Strategic investment / business alliance.

On December 19, 2018 Aflac Incorporated and Aflac Life Insurance Japan entered into a Basic Agreement on a "Strategic Alliance Based on Capital Relationship" with Japan Post Holdings Co., Ltd. Under the agreement Japan Post Holdings agreed to purchase, through a trust, roughly 7% of Aflac Incorporated's outstanding common shares in open-market and private block purchases in the United States, on a basis Aflac described as non-dilutive to shareholders. The alliance renewed the parties' commitment to Japan's cancer-insurance market, with Aflac's cancer products continuing to be sold through more than 20,000 Japan Post outlets and Japan Post Insurance sales offices, and contemplated further collaboration in product development, digital technology and asset management. Japan Post agreed to a shareholder agreement and would not gain rights to control or manage Aflac; the investment was subject to regulatory approvals expected in the second half of 2019.

The capital relationship deepened Aflac Japan's longstanding distribution partnership with Japan Post (in place since 2008), locking in access to Japan Post's postal-outlet distribution network for cancer insurance while aligning the two companies' economic interests.

Advisory firms were not disclosed for this transaction.