Genworth Financial, a dominant carrier in US long-term-care insurance, agreed to sell itself to a Chinese investment firm as persistent low interest rates and rising costs hobble its business, The Wall Street Journal reports. The Chinese investment firm, China Oceanwide Holdings, will pay about $2.7 billion for Genworth. The deal comes as China Oceanwide has been pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into US commercial and residential property in the past two years. China Oceanwide will pay $5.43 a share in cash for shares of Genworth, which closed trading on Friday at $5.21. Genworth has struggled ever since the financial crisis, as one of the insurers hardest hit by the bursting of the real-estate bubble, and then later, by ultralow interest rates.
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