ANBANG WITHDRAWS APPLICATION TO ACQUIRE FIDELITY & GUARANTY LIFE

China’s acquisition-minded Anbang Insurance Group has withdrawn its application for the $1.57bn acquisition of Fidelity & Guaranty Life owing to demands by the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) for more detailed information about Anbang’s ownership structure, the US insurer has disclosed in a federal filing. Fidelity & Guaranty said that it expected Beijing-based Anbang to re-file the application “in the near future” and that the two companies will “seek to close the merger as expeditiously as possible” subject to regulatory clearances. The DFS issued a statement saying that its regulators had “engaged in numerous conversations with Anbang in order to obtain information necessary to review and process Anbang’s application. However, Anbang failed to provide to DFS the requested information. DFS subsequently informed Anbang that it would not be able to continue to process its application,” prompting the company to withdraw it.