US insurance giant MetLife has agreed to purchase American Life Insurance Company, an international subsidiary of American International Group, for about $15.5 billion. The acquired business provides services including wealth management, as well as life insurance, health insurance and retirement services.

The payment will consist of $6.8 billion in cash and around $8.7 billion in MetLife equity securities, subject to closing adjustments, MetLife said in a statement yesterday.

Specifically, the equity security portion of the purchase price will consist of 78.2 million shares of MetLife common stock valued at $3.0 billion, 6.9 million shares of contingent convertible preferred stock valued at $2.7 billion and 40 million equity units having an aggregate stated value of $3.0 billion. The values of the common stock and the preferred stock are based upon the closing price of MetLife’s common stock on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday 5 March.

MetLife said it expected the cash portion of the purchase price to be financed through a combination of the issuances of senior debt and MetLife common stock as well as cash on hand.

MetLife expects the transaction to increase its 2011 operating earnings per share by approximately $0.45 to $0.55 per share, and enable the company to increase its estimated 2011 year-end operating return on equity by 140 to 160 basis points.

American Life Insurance Company, which was founded in 1921, has 20 million clients and around 12,500 employees.

The transaction is subject to certain regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. Credit Suisse, Barclays Capital, BofA, Merrill Lynch and HSBC served as advisors to MetLife.