Jefferson-Pilot Corporation
Filed by Jefferson-Pilot Corporation
Pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act of
1933
and Deemed Filed under Rule 14a-12
of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Subject
Company: Jefferson-Pilot Corporation
Commission File No. 1-05955
Lincoln Financial Group/Jefferson Pilot Financial
Merger Announcement
October 10, 2005
9:00 a.m. EST
Operator: Good morning and welcome to the Lincoln Financial Group/Jefferson Pilot Financial
conference call. This call is being recorded and will be available for replay beginning today
through October 17th, 2005. The replay can be accessed by dialing 888-203-1112 and 719-457-0820
for callers outside the U.S. and Canada. When prompted, enter the passcode No. 2471757.
Todays call will be accompanied by a slide presentation. The slide presentation is available at
www.lfgjpmerger.com. Following prepared remarks, the call will be opened up for questions. If you
would like to ask a question at that time, you may do so by pressing star 1 on your touch tone
phone. Before we begin Id like to draw your attention to slides two and three and remind you that
todays presentation contains certain forward-looking statements as defined in the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Please take a moment to read slide number two for more
information regarding the risks and uncertainties associated with forward-looking statements.
For additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to materially differ
from those projected herein, please refer to the most recent 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K reports of Lincoln
and Jefferson Pilot. I will now turn the call over to Jon Boscia, Lincoln Financials Chairman and
CEO. Please go ahead, sir.
Jon Boscia: Good morning. Thank you for joining us today on such short notice to discuss the
merger of equals between Lincoln Financial Group and Jefferson Pilot Financial that we announced
early this morning. Its truly exciting news for both organizations; and Dennis Glass, President
and CEO of Jefferson Pilot, and I are pleased to share our views on the compelling opportunities
this transaction offers a transaction that harnesses the combined power of two premier financial
services companies, each highly respected, hundred-year-old institutions to establish a new dynamic
player in the financial services marketplace.
Dennis and I are also particularly pleased to be here with two other senior leaders who share our
enthusiasm. Fred Crawford, Chief Financial Officer of Lincoln Financial; and Terry Stone, Chief
Financial Officer of Jefferson Pilot Financial and President of Jefferson Pilot Communications
Company.
Let me start by providing a high level overview of why this merger is ideal from both a strategic
and financial perspective to us the real key takeaways.
To start, the merger presents a powerful distribution organization with greater combined
penetration. By bringing the two organizations together we will have a multi-channel platform with
tremendous coverage across a full range of financial planning and wholesale distribution channels
and deepened relationships at all levels. Importantly, Lincoln and Jefferson Pilots distribution
networks are extremely complementary with very little overlap in fact, surprisingly
little overlap given the inherent strength and depth that resides in each organization currently.
Were building on two distribution platforms that already have immense talent and a national
presence to create what we believe to be the absolute winning team.
Second, the combination significantly enhances the scale and broadens the product portfolio of each
organization. Combined numbers reflect revenues of $9.5 billion and assets of $155 billion
numbers that propel us into the upper reaches of U.S. life insurance companies. We will have
leadership positions in the life, annuity and group benefit markets, including the number one
position in universal life, number five position in total life sales, number five in variable
annuity sales, number six position in variable universal life, and we will be the number six
publicly traded insurer in defined contribution and retirement plan assets.
Third, we will both benefit from a larger and diversified earnings base and with a mix of stable
life insurance earnings and equity-driven earnings. Well have a very good combination of
stability and growth. To put a finer point on it, in combining the two companies complementary
product lines in individual and employer markets, specifically Lincolns strength in fixed and
variable universal life and variable annuity categories, and Jefferson Pilots strength in fixed
and variable universal life, fixed and equity indexed annuities, group life, disability and dental
insurance we benefit from both enhanced scale and earnings stability while not giving away
growth potential. Importantly, we will also benefit from strong capital flexibility and attractive
risk profile and continued strong ratings as a double A company.
Finally, there are a number of substantial value creation opportunities that we will be realizing
through the merger. In total, we expect to realize approximately $180 million pretax in annual
cost savings by the end of 2008. As Dennis will convey, both companies have done a tremendous
amount of work and due diligence to get to these numbers, and we are highly confident we can
deliver. We plan to capture some of these savings virtually day one and ramp up will be as
aggressive as possible. We also expect to benefit from revenue enhancement opportunities across
business units as we come together after close.
All in, this is a very compelling strategic transaction that will allow us to drive shareholder
value.
Most of you will have seen the terms of this transaction in this mornings release, but just to
review:
Under the terms of the merger agreement, Jefferson Pilots shareholders will receive 1.0906 Lincoln
shares, or $55.96 cash for each Jefferson Pilot share, equating to an 11% premium based on the
average closing price of the companys share since September 7th. The aggregate amount of the cash
payment to Jefferson Pilot shareholders will equal $1.8 billion. This represents a total blended
cash and stock consideration of $55.48 per share based on the October 7th closing price of Lincoln
common stock and total consideration of $7.5 billion. The
equity portion of the transaction is
expected to be tax-free to Jefferson Pilot shareholders. Slide six of the presentation, available
on the website, provides further detail on the calculation.
Shortly after closing, we expect to repurchase approximately $500 million of Lincoln common stock.
The combined company will be headquartered in Philadelphia, with the center of operations for life
in Greensboro, and for annuities in Fort Wayne. Other key locations will include: Hartford,
Concord and Omaha.
In terms of governance the board of the combined companies will consist of eight Lincoln directors
and seven Jefferson Pilot directors, including a lead director from Jefferson Pilot.
We expect to finance the transaction with a combination of hybrid securities and long-term debt.
Fred will talk about this in more detail.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and the approval of shareholders of both
companies, and we expect to close in the first quarter of next year.
Fundamentally, these two companies are simply a perfect fit. We hear this all the time I know
you do too but, in this case, its really true and at least to us it is immediately obvious. It
certainly became very clear even in the early discussions between the two companies as we focused
on the strategic goals each of us had been working towards and how we view the market landscape.
This is truly a convergence of strategic intents.
From Lincolns perspective, our primary strategic goals have been to enhance our scale and product
mix, increase operating efficiency and improve earnings stability. We also have been thinking of
ways to build our exposure to the retirement income segment which is becoming increasingly
attractive as baby boomers mature, both from an individual and employer-sponsored market
perspective.
At the same time, the combination enables Jefferson Pilot to achieve its goals of greater scale,
expanding its distribution channels and accelerating growth through more exposure to
equity-oriented businesses. In addition, Jefferson Pilot has been seeking ways to enhance its
retirement business and further build its mass affluent strategy two goals that are met through
the combination with Lincoln.
So in many ways, this transaction is an ideal strategic combination which allows both companies to
reach key objectives that will drive benefits for shareholders and benefit key strategic partners
and our collective customers.
I mentioned scale at the outset let me just quickly bring that to life. This transaction
creates one of the largest publicly traded life insurance companies in the U.S. But as Dennis will
agree, neither company was after scale just for the sake of being big. This type of critical mass
is becoming increasingly a core factor to success in our business. The increased scale we realize
through this transaction has a number of important benefits.
First, as I mentioned, the combination of business mix diversification and increased earnings base
offsets volatility in interest rates and equity markets.
In addition, we benefit from increased shelf space with our distributors in a broader product
offering. At the same time, we will have greater capacity to invest in product development,
distribution, brand and our risk management platform, and will have better access to the capital
markets. Also, deep resources will allow the combined company to explore and pursue a broad range
of other strategic opportunities, including M&A.
Finally, we will be able to increase operating efficiency by leveraging economies of scale which
will drive additional shareholder value. Dennis will talk more about synergies in a moment.
The transaction significantly boosts the market ranking of Lincoln and Jefferson Pilot in several
key product areas and theyre worth repeating. Specifically, the combined company will be
number five in total life sales, number one in universal life, number six in variable universal
life, number five in variable annuity sales, number eight in equity indexed annuity sales, and
number fourteen in fixed annuity sales. In addition, in the Employer-Sponsored/Group market, we
will be number eight in group disability sales, number thirteen in group life sales and the number
six publicly traded insurer in defined contribution and retirement plan assets.
The combined company will also have a powerful distribution platform. I think if you catch Dennis
or me in the elevator, well tell you that this is really at the heart of the combination.
Our national platform will include wire houses and regional broker dealers, independent planners,
PPGAs, affiliated broker dealers, marketing general agents, banks and employer-sponsored and group
channels. Collectively, we will have outstanding breadth and depth of channels served.
Each company brings very distinct strengths in certain channels and key relationships that fit very
nicely together. When you lay it out, it is easy to see how Jefferson Pilot complements our
existing distribution and bolsters areas where we are limited, and we do the same for Jefferson
Pilot. And as I stressed earlier, because of the complementary nature of our networks, there is
minimal overlap.
I can tell you that for Lincoln, were really excited to draw on the many talented people that are
in Jefferson Pilots distribution team, and I know Dennis feels the same about our team.
With that overview, Ill now turn the call over to Dennis who will be President and Chief Operating
Officer of the combined company. Dennis?
Dennis Glass: Jon, thank you very much. Let me start by saying that Jefferson Pilots board and
management team believe in this transaction and expect it will drive increased value for the
combined shareholder base and benefit our other stakeholders as well. The go-forward management
team will be in a better position to more economically deliver outstanding products and services to
the marketplace, delivering improved top-line growth and profitability over the long-term.
In the near-term, we are committed to effectively and quickly getting the organizations integrated
and eliminating overlapping expenses.
As Jon noted, the combined company will have a diverse earnings base, with a favorable mix of
stability and growth coming from a large percentage of fixed product earnings and balanced by
equity-oriented growth. As the slide shows, 45% of the earnings will come from the life business.
38% retirement, plus we have the diversity added by the investment management company, Lincoln UK,
and Jefferson Pilot Communications business.
Let me focus on the near term cost savings for a minute. We expect to realize, as Jon has already
said, approximately $180 million of cost saves pretax. Most of these will come primarily from
efficiencies in shared services, corporate functions, consolidation and reductions in overlapping
business unit costs. Very little of the cost cuts come from distribution or areas affecting our
customers and ongoing top-line initiatives.
Timing-wise, 50% of the saves are expected in 12 months, 80% in 24 months, and the rest by 2008.
Jon has expressed comfort in this number, and I do as well. Our comfort level around the number is
very high given the intense process that went into building them. The process was driven by the
key business units and functional leaders that will comprise the ongoing management team. Assisted
by groups from both companies, with deep knowledge of their specific areas, these leaders have
developed documented plans and will be accountable for achieving the plan. For sure, some of the numbers
in specific areas may change, but the total $180 million is an achievable amount of cost reduction.
This merger, as Jon has pointed out, is not all about taking out costs. There are also a number of
significant top-line synergies that well be pursuing. Areas for potential revenue enhancement
opportunities include the Money Guard product and individual variable annuities, fixed and equity
index annuities, employer sponsored annuities, retail mutual funds and group life and disability
products, cross-sold through the respective distribution channels. Although we expect this to
occur, none of these likely revenue enhancements are in our pro formas at this point.
Let me go on to the management team. One of the reasons that were so optimistic about this
transaction is the strong cultural fit between our two organizations. We share the same core
values in risk management and governance and on maintaining the strength of our ratings.
Probably more importantly, we have a highly experienced management team and management continuity
will be strong. The leadership has already been agreed upon top executives from both
organizations continuing in key roles. Mergers of large organizations are difficult. But the
first step towards success is clarifying responsibilities, which, again, has already been done.
Beyond the strong cultural fit, both companies have outstanding track records for successful
integrations. Lincoln has successfully integrated CIGNA Life and Annuity and Aetna Life.
Jefferson Pilot has successfully integrated several businesses, including Alexander Hamilton Life,
Chubb Life, Guaranteed Life and Canada Life U.S. Group business. Together, we have successfully
integrated over four billion dollars of acquisitions of insurance businesses, achieving savings
above estimates and ahead of schedule in each case.
The ability to manage change and seize opportunities is an important skill set for any management
team. I am confident our teams have the skills and experience to quickly and successfully
integrate our two businesses. With that, let me turn it over to Fred Crawford, who will be the CFO
of the combined company. Fred?
Fred Crawford: Thank you, Dennis. This transaction has significant strategic and financial
benefit. Let me start by pointing to just a few of the highlights.
On a combined basis, the company would have operating income of just under $1.3 billion. The
horsepower and earnings alone is not the only story. The risk profile is attractive with about 30%
of the combined earnings now coming from equity-oriented sources. The combined company benefits
from top line diversity in life premium, retirement deposits and other strategic businesses,
namely, Benefits Partners, investment management and the communications company. Quality of
earnings as measured by diversity, stability and balance down to the product level is a critical
positive to the earnings story.
The formula is simple. Greater capacity to invest in the growth initiatives across both companies,
a leveraging of efficient life and annuity platforms to drive costs out of the business, and the
reduced risk profile yielding a lower cost to capital as we build from our post-transaction ROE of
approximately 12%.
I will go into greater detail on our rating agency visits in a moment. But theres no question
from a risk management perspective that bringing a larger balance sheet to our business, both
statutory and GAAP, is increasingly a difference-maker as our industry seeks to leverage our
franchise rights in the form of secondary guarantees and an ability to absorb, diversify and
transfer capital markets risk.
Using I/B/E/S estimates for each companys operating earnings per share, we expect the transaction
to be modestly accretive in 2006 climbing to 6 to 7% accretion as we close out 2007. This excludes
one-time costs related to the transaction, which we estimate as $180 million pretax, with
substantially all of the costs to be realized in 2006 and 2007.
Dennis walked you through the expense savings in some detail. Other significant assumptions
modeled into our estimate are $500 million of share repurchases shortly after closing, together
with approximately one billion dollars available for repurchases over 2006 and 2007, essentially
the result of excess capital and free cash flow generated over that period.
We feel the detailed work completed on anticipated cost savings, the lack of inclusion of any
revenue synergies, and the diversity of earnings referenced earlier, lowers the risk profile of
these estimates.
As I noted before, the combined company will benefit from a strong balance sheet and we will manage
the company to maintain the strength of our ratings focused on a financial strength target of
high double AAs. On slide 17, you can see the targets we intend to manage toward going forward
leverage of 20 to 25%, NAIC RBC in the range of 325 to 350%, and interest coverage climbing to a
healthy ten times. These high quality capital and coverage standards have been factored into our
accretion estimates.
We have reviewed the merger with all four rating agencies. As youll soon read they have reacted
positively to the combination. Specifically, the agencies point to the combined companies
competitive position; diversity and strength in distribution; enhanced product risk diversification
relative to existing company platforms; a view that the integration challenges, while present, have
been well thought through and fortified by managements depth of experience and successful track
record; finally, while modestly different in their approaches, a consensus view that capital plans
are consistent with that of strong double A rated companies.
Our respective financial strength and debt ratings will be placed under review with associated
outlooks. At closing, we would expect the agencies to affirm Lincolns A+ A.M. Best rating, Aa3
Moodys rating, double A Fitch rating and anticipate a double A S&P rating with positive outlook.
All of these ratings refer to the financial strength or claims paying ratings of the merged company
at closing. We anticipate an A plus senior debt rating from S&P at closing, a full two notch
upgrade from Lincolns current A minus.
As weve independently discussed with all of you at length, were certainly focused on the
challenges facing our combined company in the area of life insurance reserving or A triple X and
spread compression. We believe our combined strength and risk management practices will
serve us well in exploring financing alternatives. The merged companies also benefit from our
respective leadership positions in both product development and promoting valuation reform. On
spread compression, while both companies have held off compression, we will benefit from a general
account now approaching $75 billion in invested assets and the combined best practices from two of
the industries leading asset liability management shops.
Very important to our financial profile is the strength in statutory earnings, capital and cash
flow emerging from a well balanced product set and a healthy mix of regulated and nonregulated
sources of cash flow to the holding company. We will continue to place great importance on our
combined companys history of strong dividend payouts and expect to be active in share repurchase
balanced with the desire to invest in our growth engines.
Jon has already discussed the consideration Jefferson Pilot shareholders will be receiving.
Focusing on our plans for funding, the largest component will be Lincoln Financial common stock.
We expect to issue two billion dollars in high equity content hybrid securities, predominantly the
non-cumulative perpetual preferred securities youve all become accustomed to in our industry of
late. Well then round out our financing needs with a modest amount of senior debt. Its
important to distinguish between the cash at closing and the anticipated capital structure of the
merged company. The anticipated final capital structure includes approximately $500 million
dollars of share repurchase shortly after closing.
We will put in place customary bridge financing to afford us flexibility in tapping the capital
markets and decisions have not been finalized as to the precise mix of securities between taxable
and tax deductible structures and we are reviewing mandatory convert structures for their relative
attractiveness.
Before turning it back to Jon, I want to take advantage of this call to let you all know we will be
canceling Lincolns November investor conference for obvious reasons. We have not yet set a date
for a post-closing investor conference, but will inform you as soon as we are able to firm up those
plans.
Now I want to hand back over to Jon for some concluding comments.
Jon Boscia: Thanks, Fred. I hope you can appreciate why Dennis and I and the rest of our
management team are so excited about this merger of equals. The combined company will be a true
distribution powerhouse with deep relationships in every key channel fueling our growth.
We have very real, very achievable opportunities for value creation through expense savings and
revenue synergies. The merger is accretive in year one with a meaningful build, and we are highly
confident in our ability to deliver on those expectations.
In a combined company, well have strong financial flexibility to pursue further strategic and
product initiatives. Lastly, we have a dynamic, motivated management team that will bring a lot of
talent and continuity to day one and we are eager to get started.
With that, Dennis, Fred, Terry and I will be happy to answer your questions. Operator?
Operator: Yes, at this time if you would like to ask a question you may do see by pressing star 1
on your touch tone telephone. If youre on a speaker phone, please make sure your mute
function is turned off to allow your signal to reach our equipment. Once again, its star 1 and
well pause for just a moment.
Well go first to Tamara Kravek with Banc of America Securities.
<Q>: Hi. Good morning. Thank you. My question first is just in looking at the combined
entity, is there any thought to divesting perhaps the communications business or changing the
structure in any way or are you planning on going ahead in the near term with all of the businesses
intact? And my second question is, just given the product mixes, I think Lincoln has expressed a
concern over spread compression coming and it seems with the product mixes combined that that
spread compression is actually greater, not less. So in terms of your view on spread compression,
Id be interested in your comments on what the outlook for that is with the combined company.
<A>: Jon Boscia: Okay. Tamara, thanks very much. This is Jon. We do not have any plans
at this point in time to change the structure. We view the businesses that are here, particularly
as you note the communications company, as a very high value organization that provides significant
free cash flow to us, which obviously is a source of strength in the financial statements. But
even more importantly than just a source of strength in the financial statements, it gives us real
money to invest back into our businesses so that we can continue to have a growth orientation.
We noted also on the comments that we will have a $75 billion general account portfolio. To help
put that in perspective, a $75 billion general account portfolio really gives us on a combined
basis a lot more leverage in structuring deals. Very specific to our needs from an asset liability
management basis, when compared with what we might do individually with one another or
individually, I should say. It gives us a tremendous pool of talent in the asset liability
management area, with expertise in investments, actuarial and finance. And we believe that thats
really going to play an important role in helping us to continue to hold off spread compression as
in fact each of our companies individually have been successful in doing.
<Q>: Great. Thank you.
Operator: Well go next to Saul Martinez with Bear Stearns.
<Q>: Hi. I have a question on your funding of the transaction. I apologize, Fred, if I
missed your comments on the hybrid securities, but can you give a little bit more color on those?
Will these be perpetual preferreds, or are you thinking about issuing mandatory convertible debt,
what is your thinking there? Are you looking at some of the newer tax deductible versions of
perpetual preferreds that are starting to be rolled out, if you could give us more color on that
part of the funding structure?
<A>: Fred Crawford: Sure. First, and very importantly, while we have thought through
potential funding strategies in an effort to model the accretion figures weve talked to you about,
weve not concluded any final decisions on the mix other than were going to put in place $2
billion of high equity content hybrids, and what I mean by high equity content is precisely what
you identified. That is, the noncumulative perpetual preferreds that have become popular of recent
time in our industry so that we are dedicated to doing. The mix, we are looking at tax
deductible structures. We are also looking at whether or not a mandatory convert on a relative
basis would make sense. We havent made financial decisions on it but you could expect it likely
to include a mix of all of the above.
<Q>: Okay. So just to be clear, the two billion could entail a could entail a mix of
both perpetual preferreds and mandatory converts, but in terms of modeling out the accretion and
dilution youve basically assumed that that would be issued as a perpetual preferred stock?
<A>: Fred Crawford: Largely. The vast majority of the funding is in perpetual preferred
stock, thats correct.
<Q>: All right. Thanks a lot.
Operator: Well go next to Dan Johnson with Citadel Investment Group.
<Q>: Jon, could you walk through, I think the commentary here its modestly accretive in
2007, according to the I/B/E/S estimates that stand out there, which is around $5? Can you talk a
little bit about the pluses and minuses that go into that in terms of the I think the expense
saves youve laid out, the sort of assumptions youre using for capital cost increases? I guess
where Im trying to go, without this deal, where would your 07 best estimate at this point have
been relative to IBIS $5 number?
<A>: Jon Boscia: I think, Dan, as you know, we have both as individual companies an existing
practice where we do not give our individual earnings guidance. But yet we recognize in this
situation youre going to need some perspective on it so thats why we tried to bring it back to
I/B/E/S and putting it both on a 2006 and on a 2007 basis. I think it is fair to say that the
boards of both companies would look at did look at this transaction and say both companies are
better together than they are separate and theyre excited about it. So what we would have had
individually becomes a lot less important since going forward were combined.
<Q>: Good. Thank you very much.
Operator: Well go next to Andrew Kligerman with UBS.
<Q>: Good morning, everyone. Few questions. First, it occurred to some, say five, six
months ago, this is more for Jon Boscia that you might be a good fit for AXA, sorry to mention
that, but Im sure there will be a lot of questions about it. But what would your thoughts be
around that potential scenario if there were a premium paid by that company for Lincoln? Would
that be better? The second question would be I think both Jon and Dennis may have mentioned M&A
strategies going forward, where would the joint company be most interested in merging or acquiring
going forward and when? I assume its a ways out, but when? And lastly, just I was looking at
the org chart, and Ive definitely been impressed with the work of Wes Thompson in distribution and
John Gotta in manufacturing on the life side side I see Wes Thompson is now in
employer markets and John Gotta in manufacturing. Could you talk about the commitment of those two executives going
forward how theyre going to fit in the organization? And thats it.
<A>: Jon Boscia: Okay. Andrew, let me take the questions in order here. And I would
appreciate particularly in the second of your questions, the M&A, Denniss thoughts and comments on
this as well.
First as it relates to what our reaction to an AXA or anybody else be, very clearly Lincoln has not
and is not has not been and is not today for sale. We believe that we have an extraordinarily
strong distribution capability for organic growth with great products, and Jefferson Pilot enhances
that in very meaningful ways. And I believe that as we execute on this youre going to continue to
see a company that leads the industry in organic growth.
On the M&A front, I think, you know, our first order of business, our first order of priority is to
deliver what we are committing to you that we are going to be delivering. Over the course of the
next couple of years, financial services is going to change in ways that we cant yet fully
understand today. But what we do know is a company with stable earnings in terms of volatility but
good earnings growth associated with it and strong distribution will have great flexibilities in
future years, and we intend to take advantage of it.
With regard to Wes and John, Wes has been very, very successful in growing a new business inside of
Lincoln, a business that weve all come to know as Lincoln Financial Distributors. We believe
theres tremendous opportunity for us in the Employer Market to really have a major substantial
contribution to our P&L efforts, and Wes is a natural for leading that for us because of his skill
base and making something big out of something that isnt as big on the front end. So were real
excited about that.
<Q>: Wes is excited about it as well?
<A>: He sure is.
<Q>: Good.
<A>: Jon Boscia: And John will be retiring in 2006, and has contributed significantly to
our success over the past several years. Its going to be a shame to have John retire, but thats
what he and his wife Lynn want to do at this point in their life now, and we fully support his
desires in doing that.
Dennis, your thoughts on M&A and the future and things.
<A>: Dennis Glass: Andrew, of course, as Jon said, the immediate business for the two
organizations is to do the integration successfully. And I dont buy that just means get the cost
out, but bring these two fine management teams together and create really the kind of company that
Jon and I have been describing this morning.
Jefferson Pilot and Lincoln have been alert to opportunities on the M&A front to accelerate
shareholders growth, to create a more stable business and well keep our eye open as we move
forward. Its hard to say exactly where that might take us. I would also say that the Jefferson
Pilot people coming to the organization have great experience in the areas youre talking about
and this whole time has been put together with Jon and myself based on the quality of each of the
individuals and where they can make the best contribution.
<Q>: Excellent. Good luck to all of you on this.
<A>: Thank you, Andrew.
Operator: Well go to Colin Devine with CitiGroup.
<Q>: Good morning, gentlemen. I have a couple of questions. Jon, Im hearing from both you
and Dennis about the growth, and Im trying to reconcile that. And Ill put the question to each
of
you. For Dennis, if I look at your life and annuity business the earnings have essentially been
flat for each of the last five years. Jon, if I look at Lincolns life business, the earnings have
been flat for the last five years, annuity business is growing at about a compound growth rate of
5%. Perhaps you could just walk us through how putting the two organizations together is going to
grow that?
And I also have a question for Fred on the expense saves; is that before or after financing costs
in this transaction?
As a follow up on expense saves to John Gotta, when I think about the expense reduction initiatives
you put Lincoln through in the last two years, its hard for me to believe theres much more to
take out. Perhaps you can comment on that, Jon?
<A>: Jon Boscia: Let me take a couple of those, Colin. First on the annuity growth, we
tried as recently as the reported second quarter to really enable people to take out all of the
one-time items that have been impacting positively and negatively our annuity earnings over the
last few years. And when you take those out, as an example, just from 04 to 05, I think, I
remember Fred indicating that weve had, you know, double digit something in the teens
year-over-year growth, but because we had such strong one-time items in 04, the underlying run
rate and core earnings tends to get confused. And in fact we were going to use the November IR
meeting to even do a deeper dive on that.
But we have had good underlying annuity growth. On the life side, it has been less robust, but
interestingly enough I was looking at something recently, and I believe that you know the first
three years or so after our combinations of Lincoln, CIGNA, Aetna, our annuity or our life
insurance earnings averaged about $210 million, somewhere around there, per year. The last five
years the number has been up around $250, $260 million per year. So weve seen growth over that
period of time.
But this past couple of years, when you had, you know, kind of some of the large case situations
going on inside of life insurance, we had told the investment community that in fact we would have
a period of, I think we said probably something around two years, where you know we would just see
flat earnings before we began to have growth coming back in.
I think with the broad product line that our two companies have on life insurance, with
distribution that we can penetrate even further. Ill ask Dennis as an example to comment on the
MGA channel and where we each were previously versus where we will be combined in that channel.
Theres some exciting stories there. The last thing that I would comment on is as you note, the
work that John Gotta and the rest of the organization has done on the Lincoln side in trying to get
increased cost efficiencies out.
It has been positive work, yet at the same time one of the questions that the investment community
has asked Lincoln is, you know, youre having such strong top line growth Lincoln, when are we
going to be able to see that coming through into the bottom line? And frankly when you look at the
underlying operating efficiencies and effectiveness of Jefferson Pilot, compared with Lincoln,
Jefferson Pilot is superior to us. Theres just no other way of saying it. What this will do is
enable us to take Lincolns top line growth, combine it with Jefferson Pilots financial
disciplines and skill and turn more of that top line growth into a stronger bottom line growth.
And we think thats one of the real benefits of this combination.
Dennis, would you like to comment on that, how the distribution is actually enhanced?
<A>:
Dennis Glass: Well, in the specific instance of what we call the IMO channel and I
think Lincoln call the MGA channel, thats the only channel where we have overlapping distributors,
and the math around is that specifically inside that channel the sales overlap is about 34%.
That to us, though, is less important than the fact that in each of those significant distributors,
either of us alone are fourth or fifth on the list whereas both of us together will become first,
second or third, and that is significant. So its that type of specific situation that I think
will help with the overall top line growth. And theres others like that in this combination.
Let me hit your question head on about slow growth in the life and annuity business. Jefferson
Pilot has never viewed the business and its strategy as specific to one line or the other, but the
combination of the businesses. And we think that as we move into this new organization, the
combination of the businesses are good, complementary, and will produce better long-term results
with the mix between fixed and equity as weve been talking about.
Coming back specifically to Jefferson Pilots life business, the way you look at that, Colin, is a
little incomplete, because the profitability of that business is so great and we take the
profitability out of the business and use it to repurchase shares as an example. So you really
have to look at it in its totality. Were confident well get to the kind of top line growth and
in the near term benefit from bottom line growth with these cost saves. Theres nothing we can do
about the environment. If the equity markets get stronger, well do better. If they dont get
stronger, we wont do quite as well. If interest rates continue to be steady, well hold margins
in most cases. If they upgrade a little bit, we will improve margins. But we come back to the
fundamental belief that the combination here where theres so little distribution overlap, theres
so much opportunity for expense saves and were in control of some of this that its a great
opportunity.
Now let me specifically address the question of cost saves, and I will come back to it. Yes,
Jefferson Pilot has been efficient. But, yes, Lincoln has had a cost reduction plan. First,
theres overlap. And so theres automatic expense savings that come from two people doing the same
thing. So that will occur. And then Ill come back again to the fact that these are based on
specific plans.
This is not a number that says, well, you ought to be able to get 15 to 20% out of the combined
total, lets go with that. Theyve been developed the cost saves have been developed by
specific programs by specific teams of people. In aggregate the head count reduction is about
10% of the total, and in aggregate the cost saves are about 12% of the total G&A of both companies.
12% is not a high number in the context of mergers of these size of companies.
<A>: Fred Crawford: Colin, its Fred. You asked a more specific modeling question, and
perhaps I could be helpful to you and others on the phone. One is the $180 million of pretax
expense saves do not include an offset for financing cost. So that would be a singular line item
when thinking about the accretion figures. And remember how thats being scaled in. Again, 50%,
80%, 100% over 2006, 7 and 8.
In terms of the financing cost, what we are assuming, and this will help I think a little bit with
Sauls question as well, is a run rate of financing costs after tax of approximately $120 to $130
million a year. I say run rate, because recognizing 2006 that the plans currently are to close the
transaction in the latter part of the first quarter if not the end of the first quarter.
Id also like to note theres very little in the way of noise related to PGAAP adjustments. As
youre aware, there will be some level of amortization of intangibles and the like as you move into
the PGAAP merged entity. Theres very little noise that relates to that.
<Q>:
Fred, to be clear, come 2008, $180 million expenses drop off,
you replace it with $130
million in financing, so the net P&L benefit is $50 million pretax? Is that what youre saying?
<A>: Fred Crawford: The $180 million is pretax. The numbers I quoted you on the financing
costs are approximately after tax. Then what you have to think of in terms of earnings per share
accretion is whats taking place in the share count relative to buy-back activities, et cetera.
<A>: Jon Boscia: We know a lot of you will have more detailed questions on the numbers and
the finances, and we want to make sure you know we will have people standing by here so we can go
off line and really help you understand in detail and work those things.
Operator: Well go next to Nigel Dally with Morgan Stanley.
<Q>: Good morning. Anything to stop a third-party to come in make a competing bid, like a
break-up fee in the transaction?
<A>: Jon Boscia: There is a break-up fee in the transaction, Nigel.
<Q>: Any details on that, the size and nature of that?
<A>: Jon Boscia: Yes, the break-up fee is $300 million. And I believe thats the primary
mechanism there.
<Q>: Okay. Thats great. Thanks.
<A>: Thanks.
Operator: And well go next to Eric Berg with Lehman Brothers.
<Q>: Thanks. I have one question. I will apologize in advance if youve gone over this. I
had to disconnect for a minute. Jon, Lincolns history in the group insurance business has not been, I
would say, a good one. Indeed, I would say one of your biggest contributions is to take
Lincoln out of the businesses that you sort of stumbled in and that you are now getting back into.
Certainly acknowledging that JP has been a strong operator in this area, Id nonetheless like to
ask the question, why should we think that this time around Lincoln in the group insurance business
will be a better performer than before?
<A>: Jon Boscia: Yeah, very different businesses, Eric. When we were in the group business
before, we were in there as a managed care company. And as a managed care company, as we have seen
with managed care, you have to devote your whole business to being in managed care. Whether youre
Aetna or CIGNA these days, you just cant be in managed care without that being your whole focus.
JPs group business is a very different type of business than that is. So I think were talking
about what may have a headline of looking like were getting back into something we exited, but
very quickly you peel through that headline and you see youre in something very different.
<Q>: Werent you though, if I could follow-up quickly, werent you in the group disability
business both on a direct and reinsured basis?
<A>: Jon Boscia: We were in individual disability businesses and then through reinsurance
we were in disability businesses. But through our group business, we were not.
<Q>: Thank you.
Operator: Well go next to Jason Zucker with Fox-Pitt Kelton.
<Q>: Thanks and good morning. Wanted to start off had a couple of questions for Dennis and
then a couple of questions for Fred and then a couple questions for Dennis.
Fred, I just want to go back to Colins point. The six to seven percent accretion that you talk
about, Im assuming that does include the finance costs you just mentioned?
<A>: Fred Crawford: Thats correct.
<Q>: And then second, Fred, how much cash is freed up from JP moving from triple A to double
A?
<A>: Fred Crawford: There is a level of excess capital that is freed up in the transaction.
And thats been incorporated together with free cash flow and my comment that over the course of
2006 and 2007 we would anticipate repurchasing upwards of a billion dollars in the form of common
stock.
<Q>: Okay. Then, Dennis, a couple of questions. The first is, can you comment as to
whether there were other bidders for JP as of recent? And then the second question, and I wanted
to guide this towards you, I guess, because as COO and in the comments made by Mr. Boscia, youll
be looking over expenses, and the question is why do we exclude the one-time costs of $180 million
from the accretion in the deal? If we have some precedent, I can go back to the Met-TLA deal,
theres a couple hundred million dollars of similar one-time costs, but that was included in their
accretion figures, and then the second part of that question is: Why should I be
comfortable by 2008 that there will no longer be below-the-line one-time restructuring costs when, if I go back
over the last several years, almost every year at Lincoln we did have some form of restructuring
charge? Why wont that continue?
<A>: Dennis Glass: Let me take those one at a time. The first is other bidders. Jefferson
Pilot, and you all have heard me say this, has been open to any kind of transaction in addition to
organic growth that will accelerate shareholder value, and so, weve been generally aware of what
opportunities would present themselves, not just in the last six months but over the last ten
years. Im confident that this is the best opportunity for Jefferson Pilot shareholders,
continuity of ownership, continuity of management, continuity of board, plus the other elements of
a deal that weve talked about.
With respect to one-time costs, theres no question that there are implementation costs necessary
to get at the ongoing run rate. What Fred has demonstrated is the ongoing run rate, of course, in
actuality these will be reduced by one-time costs but hell
share off line the math, actually you
can do the math yourself on that. But our point is its the ongoing $180 million thats the
most important number. Obviously again there is some investment necessary to get to that and weve
put a circle around how much that is.
With respect to restructuring charges, Im not familiar with what Lincoln has had in that regard,
but in terms of the go-forward plan, its quite specific as Ive said on a number of Ive made
that comment a number of times today. And I cant tell you that there wont be something that
surprises everybody. But Im comfortable that were putting this together in a logical way and
that the organization will be continuing for quite some time.
Jon, you may want to fill in on that organizational issue, the restructuring.
<A>: Jon Boscia: What Jason is referring to is, as we have had situations either of exiting
businesses or where weve been going through efficiency improvements, we have had one-time charges
that we have had to take associated with those. And I think you captured it real well where were
saying were identifying up front what will be there and well be highly confident in our ability
to achieve those.
<Q>: Thank you.
Operator: Well go next to Joan Zief with Goldman Sachs.
<Q>: Good morning. Couple of questions. First question is for the JP shareholders, if they
do not actually check a box, is the default the cash or the stock?
<A>: Fred Crawford: My understanding of the deal, and Dennis Schoff, Id ask you to weigh
in if I misspeak, but my understanding is if theres not an election the default is pro rata
relative to whats been described, the 24/76 percentage break, if you will, between cash and
shares.
<A>: Dennis Schoff: Fred, thats not exactly right. The way it works is it depends on how
much subscription there was to which type of currency. In other words, if the cash election is
undersubscribed, the default will be to go towards the cash, and then, likewise, if the stock is
undersubscribed, which wont happen, it will go that way. But basically it will go to fill up that
which is undersubscribed and then go to a pro rata basis.
<Q>: Thats my first question. Thank you.
The second question I have is, with the companies coming together, do you have any longer term
goals that you think you can achieve with respect to return on equity, revenue growth, just for
growth goals that you think one could put out there in the future? And then I guess my last
question is: How long have the two companies been talking? I mean how long did it take to
actually get this together to, you know, decide who is going to be doing what? And how comfortable
are you in, now that there wont be a Jefferson Pilot anymore, how comfortable are you in
maintaining your distribution and your people who have basically wanted to be Jefferson Pilot
people?
<A>: Jon Boscia: Let me talk about the first part of that, Joan, and then well have Dennis
talk about Jefferson Pilot perspective. First, in terms of our ability to grow earnings or our
ROE, Id say lets go back to actually 1998, if you will, when I first became Lincolns CEO. And
we had had ROEs that were in the single digits, and we talked about what our ROE goals were, and
that we were going to grow those from those single digits up into the teens and have strong ROEs,
and I think we end up probably being second to Jefferson Pilot on an ROE basis. So weve
demonstrated that we do have the ability to grow that ROE.
We do get an ROE, as Fred said, coming out of the box, of somewhere around something approaching
12% now. Its our intent that over this next couple of years, as we fully integrate these
companies, were going to grow back up into the teens again and get back to that level and you know
our track records are such that weve done it previously.
In terms of when did we start: It was probably in the late 1980s or early 1990s. Dennis and my
predecessors, David Stonecipher and Ian Roland had regular talks with one another. When Ian
retired, David and I had talks with one another. When David retired, Dennis and I had talks with
one another. So its been something that has made strategic sense to us for a very, very long
time. Not just to the current management, but to the prior management as well.
In any deal, you have to have the right confluence of activities around the deal and everything to
help make it possible. And you know we really did this time.
<Q>: But what was the thing that was the tipping point?
<A>: Jon Boscia: I dont think there is something thats a tipping point per se. You know,
we had our stocks behaving in a good fashion relative to one another. We had the marketplace
dynamics behaving in a good fashion relative to one another. We had complementary skill sets. And
all of it sort of just came together. Dennis and I began having more serious talks over the last
several months so that we could really be well prepared and well thought out in this combination.
And you know its been a long, long time coming. What Id like to do now is ask Dennis to comment
on what does it mean to our Jefferson Pilot employees and how theyre going to react and feel about
it.
<A>: Dennis Glass: Couple of quick thoughts on that, and the first ones repeat what I said
in my opening sentence. Jefferson Pilots management team believes in this transaction. I also
said, and it is true, that there is a continuity of Jefferson Pilot here, continuity of shareholder
ownership, continuity of boards, continuity of senior management team. So in every real respect,
Jefferson Pilot continues on as part of a larger organization in the same way Lincoln continues on
as part of a larger organization.
Now, we have made hard decisions about what makes the most sense. And you all know that Lincoln
has spent some $100 million branding this name over the last five years. Jefferson Pilot hasnt
made that kind of investment. So when you just look at where the investment has been made in the
name, Lincoln has done much more so than Jefferson Pilot. It is clearly an issue and it will tug
at the heart of many Jefferson Pilot people to have this name changed after 103-year history. But
well be proud to go forward with this organization, and we know that it will benefit our
shareholders and other stakeholders as well.
<Q>: Thank you.
Operator: This does conclude todays question and answer session. At this time Ill turn things
back over to our presenters for any additional or closing comments.
Jon Boscia: Okay. I would just like again to wrap up by reiterating the enthusiasm that Dennis
and I and the management teams feel about this transaction and to remind you that there are people
here waiting to take your calls and answer your questions on a going forward basis. And we look
forward to continuing to share the excitement of this combination with you in the years to come.
Operator: This does conclude todays conference. Thank you for your participation. You may now
disconnect.
In connection with the proposed transaction, a registration statement, including a joint proxy
statement/prospectus, and other materials will be filed with the SEC. WE URGE INVESTORS TO READ
THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT AND JOINT PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS AND THESE OTHER DOCUMENTS CAREFULLY
WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE AND BEFORE MAKING ANY VOTING OR INVESTMENT DECISIONS, BECAUSE THEY WILL
CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION. Investors will be able to obtain
free copies of the registration statement and joint proxy statement/prospectus (when available), as
well as other filings containing information about Lincoln and Jefferson-Pilot, without charge, at
the Securities and Exchange Commissions website (www.sec.gov). In addition, free copies of the
registration statement and joint proxy statement/prospectus will be (when filed), and Lincolns
other SEC filings are, also available on Lincolns website (www.lfg.com). Free copies of the
registration statement and joint proxy statement/prospectus will be (when available), and
Jefferson-Pilots other SEC filings are, also available on Jefferson-Pilots website
(www.jpfinancial.com).
Lincoln, Jefferson-Pilot, their respective directors and officers and other persons may be deemed,
under SEC rules, to be participants in the solicitation of proxies in respect of the proposed
transaction. Information regarding Lincolns directors and executive officers is available in its
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004 and in its proxy statement filed
with the SEC on April 8, 2005, and information regarding Jefferson-Pilots directors and executive
officers is available in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004 and in
its proxy statement filed with the SEC on March 24, 2005. More detailed information regarding the
identity of potential participants in the proxy solicitation and a description of their direct and
indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, will be contained in the registration
statement and joint proxy statement/prospectus and other relevant materials to be filed with the
SEC in connection with the proposed transaction.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Except for historical information contained in this document, statements made in this document are
forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995 (PSLRA). A forward-looking statement is a statement that is not a historical fact and,
without limitation, includes any statement that may predict, forecast, indicate or imply future
results, performance or achievements, and may contain words like: believe, anticipate,
expect, estimate, project, will, shall and other words or phrases with similar meaning.
We claim the protection afforded by the safe harbor for forward-looking statements provided by
the PSLRA. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual
results to differ materially from the results contained in the forward-looking statements. Risks
and uncertainties that may cause actual results to vary materially, some of which are described
within the forward-looking statements include, among others: (1) the shareholders of Lincoln and/or
Jefferson-Pilot may not approve and adopt the merger agreement and the transactions contemplated by
the merger agreement at the special shareholder meetings; (2) we may be unable to obtain regulatory
approvals required for the merger, or required regulatory approvals may delay the merger or result
in the imposition of conditions that could have a material adverse effect on the combined company
or cause us to abandon the merger; (3) we may be unable to complete the merger or completing the
merger may be more costly than expected because, among other reasons, conditions to the closing of
the merger may not be satisfied; (4) problems may arise with the ability to successfully integrate
Lincolns and Jefferson-Pilots businesses, which may result in the combined company not operating
as effectively and efficiently as expected; (5) the combined company may not be able to achieve the
expected synergies from the merger or it may take longer than expected to achieve those synergies;
(6) the merger may involve unexpected costs or unexpected liabilities, or the effects of purchase
accounting may be different from our expectations; (7) the credit and insurer financial strength
ratings of the combined company and its subsidiaries may be different from what the companies
expect; and (8) the combined company may be adversely affected by future legislative, regulatory,
or tax changes as well as other economic, business and/or competitive factors.
The risks included here are not exhaustive. The annual reports on Form 10-K, current reports on
Form 8-K and other documents filed by Lincoln and Jefferson-Pilot with the Securities and Exchange
Commission include additional factors which could impact our businesses and financial performance.
Given these risks and uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking
statements as a prediction of actual results. In addition, we disclaim any obligation to update
any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date of this
document, except as may be required by law.