Upcoming MetLife & RGA offer

[FEDUKE404]

This IS a tax question, as I feel certain that many on this board have encountered shares, owned by clients, of "MetLife Policyholder Trust" from the demutualization of that company in the 1990's. Generally our role fell into the "Yes, Virginia, your cost basis IS zero" when the client is clueless as to where those shares ever came from.

Apparently there is a pending exchange for MetLife, Inc and Reinsurance Group of America, Inc. that will close in mid-September. The owners of the MET shares have certain decisions to make re their shares which will possibly determine how many shares in the new company they might receive.

Generally speaking, I can fairly well comprehend what is to occur in such reorganizations, but this prospectus has left my head spinning!

Although I would be hesitant to ever offer investment "advice," I would like to be able to explain to my several clients who own MET in a few simple statements what is generally involved. Right now I can't even get close to doing so!

Before my telephone starts ringing next week, does anyone have the "Cliff Notes" version of what is actually going on here?

Thanks in advance!!

FE

[jimmcg]

I do not believe you will find a good Cliff Notes version that one could rely on for this reorg.
I am sure you will get a lot of "opinions" that should not be relied on. I have read the registration and prospectus twice and am still reviewing it. I have talked to some pretty good tax attornies about it and still do not have a consenus of opinion on my questions. Good luck and keep reading!

[FEDUKE404]

Possible conclusions

I have read the registration and prospectus twice and am still reviewing it. I have talked to some pretty good tax attornies about it and still do not have a consenus of opinion on my questions.

Wow - you must have a lot of understanding attorneys as well as spare time in order to read through that approx 200 page prospectus even once!!

Perhaps if I owned several thousand shares I might show such diligence.

After further review, the two main sources of information I've gleaned are: 1) It probably involves a strong company (MET) and a much weaker company (RGA) and 2) It is possible to do NOTHING and your original shares stay intact (page Q-12).

Of course, it's hard to say what kind of "surprises" my several tax clients who own MET will have in store for me next spring..........

Thanks!

FE

[erchess]

Is there any

Met Life Stock that is NOT affected by this offer? My parents own Met Life Stock in street name but they do not think the name in this thread looks familiar and they have not received a prospectus. How can they find out what is going on?

[wv112]

There's an article on yahoo.com this afternoon about this. It's titled "He Took On IRS and Won". It's at the top of the yahoo home page right now.

His name is Charles Ulrich and his web site is listed in the article.

www.mutualization.com.

[FEDUKE404]

More info re MET

Met Life Stock that is NOT affected by this offer? My parents own Met Life Stock in street name but they do not think the name in this thread looks familiar and they have not received a prospectus. How can they find out what is going on?

The shares I own (street name) are represented by the stock symbol "MET" and are listed as "Metlife, Inc." on the monthly account statements.

The prospectus arrived in the mail on Friday (August 22nd), with a cover letter saying the brokerage firm requires "verbal instructions" from me prior to September 10th.

FE

[DonPriebe]

Correction to URL

There's an article on yahoo.com this afternoon about this. It's titled "He Took On IRS and Won". It's at the top of the yahoo home page right now.

His name is Charles Ulrich and his web site is listed in the article.

www.mutualization.com.

Correct URL is http://www.demutualization.biz/

[Chief]

MET life

I too just received 3 copies of this offer. I had been thinking of cashing in the plans for me and the wife. I believe I will wait now for a year. The price is much lower than the first of the year. With the change of administration at the Federal level I think the stock market will vastly improve. I will mail the forms in however.

The life insurance keeps adding value and I will keep it. It's a separate thing.

[Burke]

Well, I got the Metlife phone call from a client and last night picked up a copy of the prospectus, etc. Here is what is happening. Metlife wishes to get rid of the majority stake of RGA in its investment portfolio due to different investment philosphies between the companies, and its exposure to the global reinsurance business which can be volatile. The convoluted debt/equity process by which this is occuring appears to be structured to make it a tax-free exchange all the way around. How it is being accomplished is immaterial to Met stockholders. All they need to know is that IF they decide to tender their Met shares for RGA shares, they will get $1.11 worth of RGA Class B common for every $1.00 worth of Met in the trade. This is due to the difference in the stock prices. They will then own RGA for better or worse with the same basis, if any. At the end of the day, Met will be divested of RGA except for 3,000,000 Class A shares it will retain. Met life stockholders who participate in this offer will have Class B stock. RGA expects it stock to trade more efficiently on the exchanges after this and will no longer be restrained by Met's conservative influences. This is NOT a sale offer by Met to its stockholders, so any outright sale will have to be handled by its custodian as usual. If the stockholder does nothing, he/she will still own the same shares of Met they had before.

[JON]

You think the stock market

will improve with the new administration???? Let's see the 15% dividend rate is gone, less reason to invest and the capital gains rate will be increased to 20% or 25%, less reason to be in the market. Nancy would like to have a fee for every stock sold, that will not help. The House and the Senate look as though they will be bullet proof, majorities in both places to override vetos.

The new "green" business development will be offerred by the government and reconstruction of the roads. They believe this spending will the economic recovery we need. Remember "profits" are bad and government projects are "good". Everything goes in cycles and the next one and maybe the current one do not look good for the market.

As Nancy says, only the very rich are involved in the market.