Symetra Financial, which provides group health, retirement, life and employee benefits insurance, announced terms for its IPO on Wednesday. The Bellevue, WA-based company plans to raise $351 million (with a maximum target of $435 million, down 24% from its initial target of $575 million) by offering 27 million shares at a price range of $12-$14. At the mid-point of the proposed range, Symetra will command a market value of $1.4 billion. The company, which was founded in 1957 and is owned by Berkshire Hathaway and White Mountains Insurance Group, previously filed to go public in June of 2007 but withdrew in October of 2008 due to poor market conditions. Symetra booked $1.5 billion in sales over the last 12 months and plans to list on the NYSE under the symbol SYA. BofA Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Barclays are the joint bookrunners on the deal, for which timing has not been disclosed.
