Lincoln Financial Group Pays $500 Million Debt Maturity

Also Plans To Repay $200 Million of Commercial Paper As it Matures

PHILADELPHIA, April 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Lincoln Financial Group (NYSE:
LNC) today announced that it has repaid a $500 million debt maturity and plans
to repay $200 million of commercial paper as it matures over the next several
weeks. The source of funds for the debt repayment includes a $400 million
ordinary cash dividend from The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company and a
$300 million dividend from the company's principal reinsurance subsidiary.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050830/LFLOGO )

After these actions, short-term debt at the holding company will be reduced to
approximately $450 million, a level at or below prior years. Lincoln expects
to meet the holding company's ongoing cash needs with a combination of
commercial paper as available and a contractual inter-company borrowing
facility of up to $1 billion. The company also has access to $1 billion in
bank credit lines, none of which are currently drawn. The company expects
available holding company borrowing sources, combined with savings from the
previously announced dividend cuts, will satisfy reduced holding company cash
requirements for the foreseeable future.

Dennis R. Glass, Lincoln'sPresident and Chief Executive Officer, said, "We
continue to prudently and actively manage our liquidity and capital positions.
With the repayment of this $500 million in maturing debt and planned repayment
of $200 million in commercial paper, we are reducing leverage and
significantly improving our financial flexibility at the holding company. The
combination of strengthened holding company liquidity and well-capitalized
insurance subsidiaries positions Lincoln to move forward in a difficult
environment."

The company has also taken steps to protect and build capital at the insurance
company subsidiaries. These actions include a recent reinsurance transaction
that provided approximately $240 million of statutory capital for Lincoln's
primary insurance subsidiary and an enterprise-wide restructuring program that
is expected to generate $250 million in annual run-rate savings before taxes.
Further actions, including reinsurance transactions, securitizations, and
possible asset sales, will be focused on continuing to strengthen Lincoln's
already well-capitalized insurance businesses.

Lincoln Financial Group is the marketing name for Lincoln National Corporation
(NYSE: LNC) and its affiliates. With headquarters in the Philadelphia region,
the companies of Lincoln Financial Group had assets under management of $178
billion as of December 31, 2008. Through its affiliated companies, Lincoln
Financial Group offers: annuities; life, group life and disability insurance;
401(k) and 403(b) plans; savings plans; mutual funds; managed accounts;
institutional investments; and comprehensive financial planning and advisory
services. Affiliates also include: Delaware Investments, the marketing name
for Delaware Management Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries; and Lincoln UK.
For more information, including a copy of our most recent SEC reports
containing our balance sheets, please visit www.LincolnFinancial.com.

Forward Looking Statements - Cautionary Language

Certain statements made in this release and in other written or oral
statements made by Lincoln or on Lincoln's behalf are "forward-looking
statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995 ("PSLRA"). A forward-looking statement is a statement that is not a
historical fact and, without limitation, includes any statement that may
predict, forecast, indicate or imply future results, performance or
achievements, and may contain words like: "believe", "anticipate", "expect",
"estimate", "project", "will", "shall" and other words or phrases with similar
meaning in connection with a discussion of future operating or financial
performance. In particular, these include statements relating to future
actions, trends in our businesses, prospective services or products, future
performance or financial results, and the outcome of contingencies, such as
legal proceedings. Lincoln claims the protection afforded by the safe harbor
for forward-looking statements provided by the PSLRA.

Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause
actual results to differ materially from the results contained in the
forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties that may cause actual
results to vary materially, some of which are described within the
forward-looking statements include, among others:

-- Continued deterioration in general economic and business conditions,
both domestic and foreign, that may affect foreign exchange rates,
premium levels, claims experience, the level of pension benefit costs
and funding and investment results;
-- Continued economic declines and credit market illiquidity could cause
us
to realize additional impairments on investments and certain
intangible
assets, including goodwill and a valuation allowance against deferred
tax assets, which may reduce future earnings and/or affect our
financial
condition and ability to raise additional capital or refinance
existing
debt as it matures;
-- Uncertainty about the impact of the U.S. Treasury's Troubled Asset
Relief Program on the economy; and Lincoln's ability to participate
in the program;
-- Legislative, regulatory or tax changes, both domestic and foreign,
that
affect the cost of, or demand for, Lincoln's products, the required
amount of reserves and/or surplus, or otherwise affect our ability to
conduct business, including changes to statutory reserves and/or
risk-based capital requirements related to secondary guarantees under
universal life and variable annuity products such as Actuarial
Guideline
VACARVM; restrictions on revenue sharing and 12b-1 payments; and the
potential for U.S. Federal tax reform;
-- The initiation of legal or regulatory proceedings against Lincoln or
its
subsidiaries, and the outcome of any legal or regulatory proceedings,
such as: (a) adverse actions related to present or past business
practices common in businesses in which Lincoln and its subsidiaries
compete; (b) adverse decisions in significant actions including, but
not
limited to, actions brought by federal and state authorities and
extra-contractual and class action damage cases; (c) new decisions
that
result in changes in law; and (d) unexpected trial court rulings;
-- Changes in interest rates causing a reduction of investment income,
the
margins of Lincoln's fixed annuity and life insurance businesses
and demand for Lincoln's products;
-- A decline in the equity markets causing a reduction in the sales of
Lincoln's products, a reduction of asset-based fees that Lincoln
charges on various investment and insurance products, an acceleration
of
amortization of deferred acquisition costs, value of business
acquired,
deferred sales inducements and deferred front-end loads and an
increase
in liabilities related to guaranteed benefit features of Lincoln's
variable annuity products;
-- Ineffectiveness of Lincoln's various hedging strategies used to
offset the impact of changes in the value of liabilities due to
changes
in the level and volatility of the equity markets and interest rates;
-- A deviation in actual experience regarding future persistency,
mortality, morbidity, interest rates or equity market returns from
Lincoln's assumptions used in pricing its products, in establishing
related insurance reserves and in the amortization of intangibles that
may result in an increase in reserves and a decrease in net income,
including as a result of stranger-originated life insurance business;
-- Changes in GAAP that may result in unanticipated changes to
Lincoln's net income;
-- Lowering of one or more of Lincoln's debt ratings issued by
nationally recognized statistical rating organizations and the adverse
impact such action may have on Lincoln's ability to raise capital
and on its liquidity and financial condition;
-- Lowering of one or more of the insurer financial strength ratings of
Lincoln's insurance subsidiaries and the adverse impact such action
may have on the premium writings, policy retention, profitability of
its
insurance subsidiaries and liquidity;
-- Significant credit, accounting, fraud or corporate governance issues
that may adversely affect the value of certain investments in the
portfolios of Lincoln's companies requiring that Lincoln realize
losses on such investments;
-- The impact of acquisitions and divestitures, restructurings, product
withdrawals and other unusual items, including Lincoln's ability to
integrate acquisitions and to obtain the anticipated results and
synergies from acquisitions;
-- The adequacy and collectibility of reinsurance that Lincoln has
purchased;
-- Acts of terrorism, war or other man-made and natural catastrophes that
may adversely affect Lincoln's businesses and the cost and
availability of reinsurance;
-- Competitive conditions, including pricing pressures, new product
offerings and the emergence of new competitors, that may affect the
level of premiums and fees that Lincoln can charge for its products;
-- The unknown impact on Lincoln's business resulting from changes in
the demographics of Lincoln's client base, as aging baby-boomers
move from the asset-accumulation stage to the asset-distribution stage
of life; and

-- Loss of key management, portfolio managers in the Investment
Management
segment, financial planners or wholesalers.

The risks included here are not exhaustive. Lincoln's annual report on Form
10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and other
documents filed with the SEC include additional factors which could impact
Lincoln's business and financial performance. Moreover, Lincoln operates in a
rapidly changing and competitive environment. New risk factors emerge from
time to time and it is not possible for management to predict all such risk
factors.

Further, it is not possible to assess the impact of all risk factors on
Lincoln's business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of
factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in
any forward-looking statements. Given these risks and uncertainties, investors
should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction
of actual results. In addition, Lincoln disclaims any obligation to update any
forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after
the date of the release.

SOURCE Lincoln Financial Group

Jim Sjoreen, Investor Relations, +1-484-583-1420, Investorrelations@LFG.com,
or Laurel O'Brien, Media Relations, +1-484-583-1735, mediarelations@LFG.com,
both of Lincoln Financial Group