Fortis plans mandatory exchangeable bond convertible into Assurant shares

Nashville, Jan. 4 - Fortis said Tuesday it will essentially dispose of its stake in Assurant Inc. with a mandatory convertible bond, which will convert into roughly 23 million shares of the insurance firm, and will sell its remaining 27.2 million shares of Assurant common stock.

An amount for the three-year bond was not available, but in registering the stock sale, the company estimated the shares would fetch $822.8 million at $30.25 each. Timing for the deal also was unavailable as it was expected to coincide with the stock offering, which Fortis said was awaiting registration approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Assurant shares closed Tuesday off $0.60, or 1.95%, to $30.10.

In February, Fortis sold about half its stake in Assurant with an initial public offering that brought it $1.8 billion. At that time, the Belgian-Dutch financial services firm had said it planned to dispose of its remaining stake in Assurant over time.

Morgan Stanley will be the bookrunning lead manager of the Rule 144A convertible deal, according to Fortis.

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