COLUMBUS, Ga., Sept. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Aflac Incorporated
(NYSE: AFL) announced today that as part of its overall corporate
venture strategy, the company is increasing its original investment
in the Aflac Ventures Fund from $100
million over three years to $250
million over three to four years, as opportunities
emerge.
To date, the Aflac Ventures Fund has made eight investments in
mainly early-stage companies both in Japan and the U.S., with individual investment
size ranging from $1 million to
$6 million and ownership stakes from
3% to 14%. In addition to equity investments, in most cases Aflac
U.S. and Aflac Japan maintain commercial relationships with target
companies in support of mutual growth initiatives.
Commenting on the announcement, President of Aflac Corporate
Ventures Nadeem G. Khan said: "We
are pleased with the investments made to date, as well as their
growth prospects and application to our core business. Our focus
continues to be on growth-stage, innovative and scalable companies.
As we increase the fund size, we are diversifying into later-stage
deals and fund-of-fund opportunities. This supports our overall
strategy to invest in companies with missions relevant to Aflac's
core business and restates our commitment in this space. This also
provides greater market reach and drives deal flow by building
partnerships with the start-up ecosystem and other corporate and
strategic investment groups."
Aflac Ventures Fund is a subsidiary of Aflac Corporate
Ventures. In addition to funding activities, Aflac Corporate
Ventures is the holding company for Empowered Benefits, acquired by
Aflac in 2015 and rebranded as Empowered to denote its recently
broadened scope. Empowered is a technology company located in
Charlotte, N.C., that provides
cloud-based benefits administration and exchange platform solutions
to insurance carriers, brokerages and employers. Empowered
specializes in the benefits administration space and is the
technology engine powering Aflac's Everwell enrollment platform in
the U.S. Empowered recently expanded its technology center to
include digital innovation and the development of growth
opportunities in the digital distribution space. Aflac Ventures
maintains offices in Charlotte,
N.C.; Sunnyvale, Calif.;
and Tokyo, Japan.
Also commenting on the announcement, Aflac Incorporated
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Frederick J. Crawford said: "The central mission
of Aflac Corporate Ventures is to support the organic growth and
business development needs of Aflac Japan and Aflac U.S. with
emphasis on digital applications designed to improve the customer
experience, gain efficiencies, and develop new markets in an effort
to enhance and defend long-term shareholder value. From a fund
perspective, it's all about getting in on the ground level to
incubate businesses, innovate technologies and captivate consumers
with great experiences as these early-stage companies continue to
mature. In terms of Empowered, it is a technology based platform
that is agile and capable of incubating and accelerating
go-to-market growth strategies serving our core markets."
ABOUT AFLAC
When a policyholder gets sick or hurt,
Aflac pays cash benefits fast. For more than six decades, Aflac
insurance policies have given policyholders the opportunity to
focus on recovery, not financial stress. In the United States, Aflac is the leader in
voluntary insurance sales at the worksite. Through its trailblazing
One Day Pay(SM) initiative, for eligible claims, Aflac
U.S. can process, approve and electronically send funds to
claimants for quick access to cash in just one business day. In
Japan, Aflac is the leading
provider of medical and cancer insurance and insures 1 in 4
households. Aflac insurance products help provide protection to
more than 50 million people worldwide. For 12 consecutive years,
Aflac has been recognized by Ethisphere as one of the World's Most
Ethical Companies. In 2018, Fortune magazine recognized Aflac as
one of the 100 Best Companies to Work for in America for the 20th
consecutive year and included Aflac on its list of World's Most
Admired Companies for the 17th time. Aflac Incorporated is a
Fortune 500 company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the
symbol AFL. To find out more about Aflac and One Day
Pay(SM), visit aflac.com or aflac.com/espanol.
FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
The Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "safe harbor" to encourage
companies to provide prospective information, so long as those
informational statements are identified as forward-looking and are
accompanied by meaningful cautionary statements identifying
important factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those included in the forward-looking statements.
The company desires to take advantage of these provisions. This
document contains cautionary statements identifying important
factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from
those projected herein, and in any other statements made by company
officials in communications with the financial community and
contained in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC). Forward-looking statements are not based on
historical information and relate to future operations, strategies,
financial results or other developments. Furthermore,
forward-looking information is subject to numerous assumptions,
risks and uncertainties. In particular, statements containing words
such as "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "goal," "objective,"
"may," "should," "estimate," "intends," "projects," "will,"
"assumes," "potential," "target", "outlook" or similar words as
well as specific projections of future results, generally qualify
as forward-looking. Aflac undertakes no obligation to update such
forward-looking statements.
The company cautions readers that the following factors, in
addition to other factors mentioned from time to time, could cause
actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by the
forward-looking statements: difficult conditions in global capital
markets and the economy; exposure to significant interest rate
risk; concentration of business in Japan; foreign currency fluctuations in the
yen/dollar exchange rate; operation of the former Japan branch as a legal subsidiary; limited
availability of acceptable yen-denominated investments; deviations
in actual experience from pricing and reserving assumptions;
ability to continue to develop and implement improvements in
information technology systems; governmental actions for the
purpose of stabilizing the financial markets; interruption in
telecommunication, information technology and other operational
systems, or a failure to maintain the security, confidentiality or
privacy of sensitive data residing on such systems; ongoing changes
in the Company's industry; failure to comply with restrictions on
patient privacy and information security; extensive regulation and
changes in law or regulation by governmental authorities; changes
in tax rates applicable to the company; defaults and credit
downgrades of investments; ability to attract and retain qualified
sales associates, brokers, employees, and distribution partners;
decline in creditworthiness of other financial institutions;
subsidiaries' ability to pay dividends to Aflac Incorporated;
decreases in the Company's financial strength or debt ratings;
inherent limitations to risk management policies and procedures;
concentration of the Company's investments in any particular
single-issuer or sector; differing judgments applied to investment
valuations; ability to effectively manage key executive succession;
significant valuation judgments in determination of amount of
impairments taken on the Company's investments; catastrophic events
including, but not necessarily limited to, epidemics, pandemics,
tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, war or other military
action, terrorism or other acts of violence, and damage incidental
to such events; changes in U.S. and/or Japanese accounting
standards; loss of consumer trust resulting from events external to
the Company's operations; increased expenses and reduced
profitability resulting from changes in assumptions for pension and
other postretirement benefit plans; level and outcome of
litigation; and failure of internal controls or corporate
governance policies and procedures.
The estimated impact of tax reform, which is included in GAAP
net income and equity, but excluded from adjusted earnings as
defined, is a preliminary estimate and may be adjusted for the
current and future periods, possibly materially, due to, among
other things, further refinement of the company's calculations,
changes in interpretations and assumptions the company has made,
tax guidance that may be issued and actions the company may take as
a result of tax reform.
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Analyst and investor contact – David A.
Young, 706.596.3264 or 800.235.2667; FAX: 706.324.6330 or
dyoung@aflac.com
Media contact – Catherine H.
Blades, 706.596.3014; FAX: 706.320.2288 or
cblades@aflac.com
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SOURCE Aflac Incorporated