SPECIAL REPORT: Insurers Await Inversion Guidance, Fear M&A Slowdown

April 24 — Pressure is increasing on the Treasury Department to address concerns over language in the anti-inversions Notice 2014-52 that experts say could hurt the ability of foreign insurers to take part in commonplace business combination deals.

“This has had an impact not only on foreign insurance companies, but on the U.S. insurance market itself,” Nancy McLernon, president and chief executive officer of the Organization for International Investment, told Bloomberg BNA. “If certain acquisitions are not happening due to tax reasons when they would have gone forward otherwise, that’s bad tax policy. In this whole space of trying to take care of inversions, there is a concern that foreign companies have been caught in the crosshairs.”

According to some, the language may eliminate the ability of many foreign insurance companies to participate in inversion deals and impede their ability to acquire U.S. target companies in exchange for stock.