Cariola advises Principal Financial in Santander deal
Cariola Díez Pérez-Cotapos has advised Principal Financial Group on the sale of its annuities business in Chile to Grupo Santander, structured through the sale of 100% of the shares in Principal Compañía de Seguros de Vida Chile. The transaction closed on September 1, 2026, though the value of the deal was not disclosed.
Cariola advised the client through a pre-closing corporate reorganization to separate the annuities business from the variable universal life insurance business, a step required to implement the transaction. The reorganization required several approvals from the Chilean Financial Market Commission (CMF), and the firm also helped obtain clearance from the Chilean competition authority, the Fiscalía Nacional Económica.
The complexity of the deal stemmed largely from restrictions under Chilean insurance regulation and the multiple authorizations required for its implementation.
The Cariola team was led by Juan Antonio Parodi, partner in Corporate and M&A, together with Juan Cristóbal Gumucio, partner in Competition/Antitrust. The corporate team also included Sergio Balharry and Cristóbal Morales, both senior associates in Corporate and M&A, and Domingo Fernández, associate in Corporate and M&A. On the antitrust side, José Luis García worked as an associate.
Additional support came from Francisco J. Illanes, partner in Mergers & Acquisitions, alongside associates Glen Rybertt, Javier Molina, Javiera Díaz and Valentina Pinto, all within the Mergers & Acquisitions practice. Cristóbal Thompson, associate in Litigation, and Raimundo Lobo, associate in Competition/Antitrust, also joined the team. Tax matters were handled by Javier Cerón, partner in Tax, and Josefa Álvarez, associate in Tax, while labour issues were covered by Mauricio Yudin, senior associate in Labour. The technology, privacy and media aspects of the deal were led by Carolina Flisfisch, partner in Technology, Privacy and Media, with Sofia Flores acting as associate in the same practice.
Principal Financial Group was also advised by Debevoise as US counsel, while Grupo Santander received advice from Uría Menéndez as Spanish counsel and from PPU as Chilean counsel.
