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Chad Vance

Partner, Corporate Department - Insurance M&A at Paul Hastings LLP

Chicago, IL, United States

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Why they matter

A go-to insurance M&A dealmaker who just closed an MGA carve-out sale (SiriusPoint/ArmadaCare) and has repeat reps on multibillion-dollar reinsurance and life/annuity transactions.

Background

Chad Vance is a Partner in the Corporate Department at Paul Hastings LLP, based in Chicago, where he co-leads the firm's Insurance M&A practice. He joined Paul Hastings from Sidley Austin in October 2023 as part of a three-partner team hired to build out the firm's insurance and reinsurance transactional practice. Vance holds a J.D. from Cornell Law School (cum laude) and a B.A. from the University of Michigan, and focuses on corporate, securities, and regulatory matters for insurers, reinsurers, and financial sponsors.

Notable deals

  • 2025
    Advised SiriusPoint on its $250 million agreement to sell ArmadaCorp Capital (parent of MGA ArmadaCare) to Ambac Financial Group
  • 2023
    Advised Global Atlantic on its $19.2 billion reinsurance transaction with MetLife covering annuity and life insurance blocks
  • 2019
    Represented Cigna in the $6.3 billion sale of its group life and disability insurance business to New York Life
  • 2023
    Joined Paul Hastings with Kirk Lipsey and Sanjiv Tata from Sidley Austin/Mayer Brown to launch the firm's premier insurance M&A practice

Call-prep brief

Chad Vance — Partner, Insurance M&A, Paul Hastings (Chicago)

Background

  • Cornell Law (JD, cum laude, 2007); Michigan (BA, 2002)
  • Spent most of his career at Sidley Austin before joining Paul Hastings in Oct 2023 as part of a three-partner lateral team (with Kirk Lipsey and Sanjiv Tata) hired to build out insurance M&A

Current focus

  • Buy-side and sell-side M&A, reinsurance, and financing deals for insurers, reinsurers, and PE sponsors active in the insurance/annuity space
  • Just closed (Sept 2025) SiriusPoint's $250M sale of MGA ArmadaCare to Ambac — directly relevant to MGA-focused deal theses

What he cares about

  • Deal execution speed and regulatory approval strategy (many of his deals require state insurance department sign-off)
  • Building Paul Hastings' insurance practice into a top-tier group — repeat business and platform credibility matter to him

Recent moves

  • Lateral move to Paul Hastings (2023) signals he's actively growing a book of business and may be receptive to new sponsor relationships
  • Track record spans reinsurance (Global Atlantic/MetLife, $19.2B), life/annuity divestitures (Cigna/New York Life, $6.3B), and MGA transactions (ArmadaCare)

Sensitivities

  • Client conflicts: he may already represent competing bidders or incumbents in the MGA/brokerage space — screen before sharing deal specifics
  • As outside counsel, he cannot speak for clients' strategic intentions; frame outreach around market color, not confidential deal info

Questions to ask

  1. What's driving current MGA carve-out and consolidation activity from a regulatory/capital perspective?
  2. Which sponsors or strategics is he seeing most active in insurance distribution/MGA deals right now?
  3. What are typical friction points (regulatory, reinsurance capacity, rep & warranty) in MGA acquisitions today?

Outreach draft

Subject
Insurance M&A perspective on MGA consolidation
Hi Chad, I came across your work advising SiriusPoint on the ArmadaCare sale to Ambac, and more broadly your reinsurance and life/annuity deal history at Global Atlantic and Cigna. We're a private equity team evaluating opportunities in insurance brokerage and MGA consolidation, and would value your perspective on current deal dynamics — regulatory approval timelines, reinsurance capacity, and where you're seeing the most sponsor activity. Would you have 20 minutes for a call in the next couple of weeks? Happy to work around your schedule. Best, [Placeholder Name]

Linked companies

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