MetLife has attained an arrangement to purchase the managed vision-treatment organization Versant Overall health from a team of buyers led by Centerbridge Companions and together with FFL Companions for $1.675 billion in an all-hard cash transaction.

Versant owns the marketplace brand names Davis Eyesight and Excellent Eyesight, which has about 35 million associates. MetLife explained adhering to the deal it would become the third-premier vision insurance provider by membership in the U.S. The organization has presented team vision since 2012 and it has a 15% market place share in U.S. team positive aspects. It explained soon after the acquisition it will have about 38 million vision-treatment associates.

It is funding the deal with hard cash on hand.

“We are confident this acquisition will make our market place-foremost team positive aspects business even extra interesting,” Ramy Tadros, president of U.S. business for MetLife, explained. “The addition of the powerful Davis Eyesight and Excellent Eyesight brand names will immediately establish MetLife as a leader in managed vision treatment.”

MetLife explained it envisioned the deal to be accretive to earnings per share and absolutely free hard cash flow and would have an internal amount of return in the substantial teens.

“This transaction furthers our objective of deploying cash to the highest-value alternatives,” MetLife chief government officer Michel Khalaf explained in a statement. “We assume this blend to speed up profits development although offering larger value for our consumers and shareholders.”

MetLife accredited a $two billion share buyback in July 19.

MetLife’s share cost is down extra than 26% yr-to-date, as opposed to an eighteen% drop yr-to-date for the SPDR S&P Insurance plan ETF.

The deal is envisioned to near in the fourth quarter of this yr.

MetLife shares were being up practically two% in early morning trading.

Insurance plan, metlife, Versant Overall health