American Skandia Insurance Company

Prudential Annuities
(formerly American Skandia Life Assurance Corporation)
One Corporate Drive
Shelton, Connecticut 06484
1-888-778-2888
1-800-207-7806 (fax)

American Skandia Life Assurance Corporation was founded in 1987 and was originally a division of Skandia Insurance Co. Ltd., an insurance company based in Sweden.

In 2003, American Skandia was bought by Prudential Financial, Inc. for $1.265 billion. Prudential Financial showed interest in American Skandia then because of the latter’s strength as a distributor of variable annuities through the use of independent portfolio managers and financial planners. In 2007, American Skandia’s name was changed to Prudential Annuities.

Today, Prudential Annuities generally offers different types of variable annuities, with a choice of subaccounts. Variable annuities are essentially long-term types of investment that allow an individual to continue gaining income after retirement, for the duration of his lifetime. Subaccounts allow the individual to choose how to allocate his assets depending on his goal, his willingness to take risks, and his investment time frame.

Among the types of variable annuities that Prudential Annuities has are the Premium series, the Premium Retirement series, the Advanced Series, the Other Advanced Series, and the Other Premium series. The company provides its clients with portfolio managers who aid the former to choose from the range of investment opportunities. Apart from tax-deferred investing and the option for retirement income, other features of the variable annuities are an optional living benefit, which protects the principal and allows withdrawals and accumulation of one’s investment, and a death benefit, which is paid to beneficiaries should the principal pass away prior to the annuity’s maturity.

The subaccounts provide over 50 investment options to a client. Aside from the low-risk fixed income option, clients may also choose from the more volatile small-cap or mid-cap investments, or the less volatile large-cap subaccounts. The performance portfolios of the different variable annuities with the chosen subaccount are even provided at the company website.

Currently, David Odenath, Jr. is the president of Prudential Annuities. However, for press releases or other forms of media communication, individuals may contact Lisa Bennet, the company’s vice president for Global Communications. The company itself mostly does business through independent money managers, brokers, and agents.

As a company, Prudential Annuities has a strong financial footing, starting with capitalization until liquidity. Though its parent company, Prudential Financial, definitely has a solid status—boasting of $690 billion worth of assets under management and a 39,000-strong workforce. Each company under it, including Prudential Annuities, takes responsibility for its own finances. The strength of Prudential Annuities is evident in the ratings given by various independent agencies. It received an A+ from A.M Best Co., another A+ from Fitch Ratings, AA- from Standard and Poor’s, and an A2 from Moody’s. In summary, the ratings reveal that the company has very strong financial characteristics and is able to meet its obligations to its contracts and policyholders.

Prudential Annuities is licensed to conduct business in all of the 50 states in the US.