Neb. Rev. Stat. § 44-5144 — NE Code / Chapter 44 / Section 44-5144
View Statute 44-5144
Status: in_force

(1) An insurer may acquire and hold unencumbered real estate or certificates evidencing participation with other investors, either directly or through partnership or limited liability company interests, or other equity interests, including common and preferred equity investments, in unencumbered real estate if:

(a) The real estate is leased under a lease contract;

(b) The net amount of the annual lease payments to the owner of the real estate is sufficient to amortize the cost of the real estate within the duration of the lease, but in no event for a period of longer than forty years, and pay at least three percent per annum on the unamortized balance of the cost of the real estate; and

(c) The amount invested in any such real estate does not exceed its appraised value.

When the lessee under a lease described in this subsection is the United States or any agency or instrumentality thereof, any state or any county, municipality, district, or other governmental subdivision thereof, or any agency, board, authority, or institution established or maintained under the laws of the United States or any state thereof, such lease contract may provide that upon the termination of the term thereof, title to such real estate shall vest in the lessee.

When a lease described in this subsection is under a trust agreement which provides, among other things, that upon proper notification of default under such lease and request to such trustee by an investor or investors representing at least twenty-five percent of the equitable ownership of the real estate and proper indemnification, the trustee shall proceed to protect the rights and interest of the investors owning the equitable title to the real estate. In a governmental lease or leasehold estate under which the insurer owns an interest in a lessee that is convertible by the lessee into a fee interest for no or de minimis consideration at any time during the lease term, it shall be treated as a fee interest for all purposes under this section.

For purposes of this subsection, unencumbered real estate means real estate in which other interests may exist which if enforced would not result in the forfeiture of the insurer's interest.

(2) An insurer may also acquire and hold real estate:

(a) Mortgaged to it in good faith by way of security for a loan previously contracted or for money due;

(b) Conveyed to it in satisfaction of debts previously contracted in the course of its dealings; and

(c) Purchased at sale upon judgments, decrees, or mortgages obtained or made for such debts.

(3) An insurer may invest in real estate required for its home offices or to be otherwise occupied by the insurer or its employees in the transaction of its business and may rent the balance of the space therein. The value of an insurer's investments authorized under this subsection shall not exceed ten percent of its admitted assets.

(4)(a) An insurer with policyholders surplus of at least one million dollars may individually or in conjunction with other investors acquire, own, hold, develop, and improve real estate that is essentially residential or commercial in character, even though subject to an existing mortgage or thereafter mortgaged by the insurer, if such real estate is located in the United States or Canada.

(b) For purposes of this subsection, real estate shall include a leasehold having an unexpired term of at least twenty years, including the term provided by any enforceable option of renewal. The income from such leasehold shall be applied so as to amortize the cost of leasehold and improvements within the lesser of eighty percent of such unexpired term or forty years from acquisition.

(c) An insurer may hold real estate or certification evidencing participation authorized under this subsection with other investors either directly or through a partnership, limited liability company, or other equity interest, including without limitation, common and preferred equity investments.

(d) The value of an insurer's investments authorized under this subsection shall not exceed ten percent of its admitted assets.

(5) An insurer may also acquire such other real estate as may be acquired ancillary to a corporate merger, acquisition, or reorganization of the insurer.

(6) The value of an insurer's investments authorized under subsections (3), (4), and (5) of this section, in the aggregate, shall not exceed fifteen percent of its admitted assets.

(7) For purposes of this section, value shall mean original cost plus any development and improvement costs whenever expended less the unpaid balance of any mortgage and annual depreciation on improvements of not less than two percent.

(8) An insurer's investments authorized under this section and section 44-5143 , in the aggregate, shall not exceed fifty percent of its admitted assets.

Laws 1991, LB 237, § 44;

Laws 1993, LB 121, § 260;

Laws 1997, LB 273, § 21;

Laws 2005, LB 119, § 16;

Laws 2022, LB863, § 34.