Perry J. Shwachman

PERRY SHWACHMAN is global co-leader of Sidley’s M&A and Private Equity group, and a member of the firm’s Management Committee and Executive Committee. He regularly counsels clients on a wide variety of matters involving the insurance industry. His clients include insurance companies, commercial and investment banks, investment managers and other financial institutions that transact with insurance companies.

For over 30 years he has advised clients on merger and acquisition, reinsurance, securities, insurance securitization, private equity, lending, derivative, structured product, structured investment vehicle and stable value transactions, as well as on insurance regulatory matters. Perry has been at the forefront in the development of life insurance securitizations and has helped structure some of the first embedded value, redundant reserve financing and catastrophic mortality linked securities transactions. In addition to life and health insurance, he also has substantial experience with property and casualty, financial guaranty and mortgage insurance matters.

Perry has been recognized by Chambers USA for his work in Insurance: Transactional & Regulatory in Illinois (Band 1, 2008–2025) as well as his Nationwide Insurance: Transactional & Regulatory practice (2013–2025). Clients in the 2023 edition of Chambers USA praise Perry as a “legend in insurance M&A” and go on to note that “he is a strategic thinker, particularly on thorny regulatory matters.” Sources also commend him for his “super client-handling skills.” Perry also has been recognized by PLC Cross-border Insurance and Reinsurance Handbook, The Legal 500 US, and The Best Lawyers in America®. In 2016, he received the International Law Office “Client Choice Award” for Insurance in Illinois, and received the award for Insurance & Reinsurance (U.S.) in 2012. This award recognizes the “ability to add real value to clients’ business above and beyond the other players in the market” and winners may only be nominated by corporate counsel. 

Perry was a certified public accountant (no longer active), having received a bronze medal for passing the 1983 CPA examination with the third highest score in the State of Illinois.

Recent examples of Perry's experience include representation of:

• Mubadala Capital as Lead Investor in Aquarian Capital’s US$4.1 Billion Take-Private of Brighthouse Financial.
• Affinity Partners as part of an investor consortium, along with PIF and Silver Lake, in an all-cash acquisition of Electronic Arts Inc., a global leader in digital interactive entertainment, with an enterprise value of approximately US$55 billion.
• Athora Holding Ltd. in its approximately £5.7 billion (pending) acquisition of Pension Insurance Corporation Group Limited.
• Athene Holding in its purchase of ARS.
• Lincoln Financial in the reinsurance of approximately US$28 billion of in-force universal life with secondary guarantee (ULSG), MoneyGuard®, and fixed annuity products to Fortitude Re.
• Westfield in its acquisition of the Lloyd’s operations of Argo Group, including Argo’s Lloyd’s managing agency and Argo’s members supporting Syndicate 1200.
• Apollo Global Management in the acquisition of Credit Suisse's Securitized Products Group.
• Apollo Global Management and Athene Holding in the US$1 billion acquisition of a controlling stake in Aqua Finance from funds managed by Blackstone.
• Venerable in its transaction with Manulife to reinsure approximately US$22 billion of variable annuity business from John Hancock.
• Lincoln Financial in the reinsurance of approximately US$9.4 billion of in-force executive benefit and universal life reserves to Resolution Life.
• A joint venture among Nelnet, Inc. and certain investors as issuer’s counsel on the US$4,031,720,000 Nelnet Student Loan Trust 2021 - a securitization backed by private student loans.
• Primerica in its strategic acquisition of e-TeleQuote, a Florida-based senior health insurance distributor of Medicare-related insurance policies, valued on a pre-debt enterprise basis at US$600 million.
• TowerBrook and Further Global in the US$586 million acquisition of ProSight.
• Athene Holding in its merger with Apollo Global Management, in an all-stock transaction creating a pro forma US$29 billion market cap company (with Athene valued at approximately US$11 billion).
• The buyer group in the acquisition of Wells Fargo’s approximately US$10 billion student loan portfolio.
• Venerable in its acquisition of Corporate Solutions Life Re from Equitable Holdings, and the reinsurance of approximately US$26 billion of reserves from Equitable Financial Life Insurance Company.
• Athene Holding in the reinsurance of a US$27 billion block of annuities from Jackson National Life Insurance Company, and a US$500 million indirect equity investment in Jackson.
• Athene Holding in its US$1.55 billion combination common share exchange with and sale of common shares to Apollo Global Management. The transaction also involved the elimination of Athene’s multi-class share structure.
• Athene Holding and Apollo Global Management in the formation and capitalization of Athene Co-Invest Reinsurance Affiliate 1A, Ltd. (ACRA), a long-duration, on-demand capital vehicle funded by Athene and certain investment funds managed by Apollo.
• Apollo Global Management in its US$2.6 billion acquisition of publicly traded Aspen Insurance Holdings.
• Apollo Global Management and Varde Partners in the acquisition of Fortress Investment Group’s ownership in OneMain Financial for US$1.4 billion.
• Aquiline Capital in the acquisition of Armour Group and the related US$500 million equity financing.
• Apollo Global Management and Athene Holding in the acquisition from Voya Financial of Voya Insurance and Annuity Company, including Voya’s closed block variable annuity business, for approximately US$500 million, and Athene’s agreement to reinsure US$19 billion of Voya’s fixed and fixed indexed annuity liabilities.
• The Hartford in the sale of its life insurance and annuity businesses for US$2.05 billion to an investor group that included Global Atlantic, Cornell Capital, TRB Advisors, Pine Brook and J. Safra Group.
• Apollo Global Management in the acquisition of Catalina Holdings.
• Athene Holding in its US$1.24 billion initial public offering.
• Genworth in the sale of its lifestyle protection insurance business to AXA for €465 million.
• The Hartford in the sale of its Japanese variable annuity business to ORIX for US$1.4 billion.
• Athene Holding in its acquisition of Aviva USA for US$1.55 billion and simultaneous sale by Athene of the Aviva USA life insurance business to Global Atlantic.