DES MOINES, Iowa, May 18, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: PFG) announced that its Board of
Directors has renewed the authorization initially granted in 2007 for
the repurchase of up to $250 million worth of the company's outstanding
common stock. The Board had previously suspended the 2007 authorization.
"I am very pleased about this action by our Board of Directors. It
reflects our confidence and the strength of our current financial
position," says Larry D. Zimpleman, chairman, president and chief
executive officer of The Principal(R). "With our continued
shift to a more fee-based business model, we are excited that the
increased financial flexibility our businesses provide enables us to
successfully execute our capital management strategy. As we outlined at
our Investor Day, we plan to deploy approximately $700 million of
capital in 2011. The share repurchase program, together with the
acquisitions we announced last month, demonstrates our commitment to
deploy capital in a variety of ways to increase shareholder value."
The repurchases will be made in the open market or through
privately-negotiated transactions, from time to time, depending on
market conditions. The stock repurchase program may be modified,
extended or terminated at any time by the Board of Directors. Principal
Financial Group, Inc. has approximately 321 million shares of common
stock outstanding.
Forward looking and cautionary statements
This press release
contains forward-looking statements, including, without limitation,
statements as to operating earnings, net income available to common
stockholders, net cash flows, realized and unrealized gains and losses,
capital and liquidity positions, sales and earnings trends, and
management's beliefs, expectations, goals and opinions. The company does
not undertake to update these statements, which are based on a number of
assumptions concerning future conditions that may ultimately prove to be
inaccurate. Future events and their effects on the company may not be
those anticipated, and actual results may differ materially from the
results anticipated in these forward-looking statements. The risks,
uncertainties and factors that could cause or contribute to such
material differences are discussed in the company's annual report on
Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2010, and quarterly report on Form
10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2011, filed by the company with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, as updated or supplemented from time
to time in subsequent filings. These risks and uncertainties include,
without limitation: adverse capital and credit market conditions that
may significantly affect the company's ability to meet liquidity needs,
access to capital and cost of capital; continued difficult conditions in
the global capital markets and the economy generally that may materially
adversely affect the company's business and results of operations; the
risk from acquiring new businesses; impairment of other financial
institutions that could adversely affect the company; investment risks
which may diminish the value of the company's invested assets and the
investment returns credited to customers, which could reduce sales,
revenues, assets under management and net income; requirements to post
collateral or make payments related to declines in market value of
specified assets may adversely affect company liquidity and expose the
company to counterparty credit risk; changes in laws, regulations or
accounting standards that may reduce company profitability; fluctuations
in foreign currency exchange rates that could reduce company
profitability; Principal Financial Group, Inc.'s primary reliance, as a
holding company, on dividends from its subsidiaries to meet debt payment
obligations and regulatory restrictions on the ability of subsidiaries
to pay such dividends; competitive factors; volatility of financial
markets; decrease in ratings; interest rate changes; inability to
attract and retain sales representatives; international business risks;
a pandemic, terrorist attack or other catastrophic event; and default of
the company's re-insurers.
About the Principal Financial Group
The Principal Financial
Group(R) (The Principal(R))1 is a
retirement and global asset management leader. The Principal offers
businesses, individuals and institutional clients a wide range of
financial products and services, including retirement, investment
services and insurance through its diverse family of financial services
companies. A member of the FORTUNE 500(R), the Principal
Financial Group has $327.4 billion in assets under management2
and serves some 16.4 million customers worldwide from offices in Asia,
Australia, Europe, Latin America and the United States. Principal
Financial Group, Inc. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the
ticker symbol PFG. For more information, visit www.principal.com.
1 "The Principal Financial Group" and "The Principal" are
registered service marks of Principal Financial Services, Inc., a member
of the Principal Financial Group.
2 As of March 31, 2011.
SOURCE: Principal Financial Group, Inc.
Principal Financial Group, Inc.
Media contact:
Susan Houser, 515-248-2268
houser.susan@principal.com
or
Investor contact:
John Egan, 515-235-9500
egan.john@principal.com
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