SEAN KEYVAN is a partner in Sidley’s Chicago office and heads the global insurance M&A practice. He has nearly 30 years of experience representing clients in a variety of complex, often cross-border, corporate and regulatory matters relating to the insurance and financial services industry.
Sean advises insurance companies, private equity funds, investment banks, commercial banks, finance companies, investment advisers, derivatives dealers and others in connection with: domestic and international mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures and corporate reorganizations (including acquisitions and divestitures of books of insurance business through reinsurance, renewal rights and other alternative transaction structures); the formation, capitalization and corporate financing of insurance companies and related ventures; insurance company holding company system regulation; insurance company investment activities; the regulation of insurance producers, agencies and other distribution systems; the structure and regulation of alternative and novel risk financing mechanisms and complex reinsurance arrangements.
Sean has been recognized as a leading lawyer for Insurance: Transactional & Regulatory by Chambers USA in Illinois (2015–2024) and nationally (2023–2024). In the 2023 edition, clients note he “demonstrates strong intellectual rigor and is always in tune with us on figuring out creative transaction structures that meet all constituencies.” In the 2021 edition, clients say “Sean has a pragmatic approach and deep and broad insurance regulatory and transactional knowledge. He is good at offering strategic solutions.” Sean is a frequent speaker on insurance topics, and in 2010 he was named by Law360 as a “Rising Star” and one of 10 insurance lawyers under 40 to watch.