Principal Financial Group, Inc. Prices Senior Notes Offering

DES MOINES, Iowa--(Business Wire)--
Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: PFG) announced today that it has priced
its offering of senior notes. A total of $400 million of 5-year fixed-rate
senior notes was issued with a coupon rate of 7.875 percent, and a total of $350
million of 10-year fixed-rate senior notes was issued with a coupon rate of
8.875 percent. The proceeds will primarily be used to refinance the existing
$441 million of notes due on August 15, 2009, with the remaining proceeds being
used for general corporate purposes, including funding the operations of the
company`s life insurance and other subsidiaries.

Citi, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank Securities are the joint book-running
managers of the offering. Barclays Capital, Morgan Stanley, UBS Investment Bank
and Wachovia Securities are senior co-managers, and RBS and The Williams Capital
Group, L.P. are co-managers.

The notes are being offered pursuant to the Company`s effective shelf
registration statement on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A
prospectus supplement and the accompanying base prospectus may be obtained upon
request from Credit Suisse Prospectus Department, One Madison Avenue, New York,
NY 10010, telephone 1-800-221-1037.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of
an offer to buy, nor shall there be any offer or sale of the notes in any
jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior
to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any
jurisdiction. Any offer, solicitation or sale will be made only by means of the
prospectus supplement and the accompanying base prospectus.

Forward looking and cautionary statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including, without
limitation, statements as to operating earnings, net income available to common
stockholders, net cash flows, realized and unrealized losses, capital and
liquidity positions, sales and earnings trends, and management's beliefs,
expectations, goals and opinions. The company does not undertake to update or
revise these statements, which are based on a number of assumptions concerning
future conditions that may ultimately prove to be inaccurate. Future events and
their effects on the company may not be those anticipated, and actual results
may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking
statements. The risks, uncertainties and factors that could cause or contribute
to such material differences are discussed in the company's annual report on
Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008, and in the company's quarterly
report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2009, filed by the company
with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as updated or supplemented from
time to time in subsequent filings. These risks and uncertainties include,
without limitation: adverse capital and credit market conditions that may
significantly affect the company`s ability to meet liquidity needs, access to
capital and cost of capital; difficult conditions in the global capital markets
and the general economy, which the company does not expect to improve in the
near future, that may materially adversely affect the company`s business and
results of operations; the actions of the U.S. government, Federal Reserve and
other governmental and regulatory bodies for purposes of stabilizing the
financial markets might not achieve the intended effect; the risk from acquiring
new businesses, which could result in the impairment of goodwill and/or
intangible assets recognized at the time of acquisition; impairment of other
financial institutions that could adversely affect the company; investment risks
which may diminish the value of the company`s invested assets and the investment
returns credited to customers, which could reduce sales, revenues, assets under
management and net income; requirements to post collateral or make payments
related to declines in market value of specified assets may adversely affect
company liquidity and expose the company to counterparty credit risk; changes in
laws, regulations or accounting standards that may reduce company profitability;
fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates that could reduce company
profitability; Principal Financial Group, Inc.`s primary reliance, as a holding
company, on dividends from its subsidiaries to meet debt payment obligations and
regulatory restrictions on the ability of subsidiaries to pay such dividends;
competitive factors; volatility of financial markets; decrease in ratings;
interest rate changes; inability to attract and retain sales representatives;
international business risks; a pandemic, terrorist attack or other catastrophic
event; and default of the company`s re-insurers.

About the Principal Financial Group

The Principal Financial Group® (The Principal®)1 is a leader in offering
businesses, individuals and institutional clients a wide range of financial
products and services, including retirement and investment services, life and
health insurance, and banking through its diverse family of financial services
companies. A member of the Fortune 500, the Principal Financial Group has $236.6
billion in assets under management2 and serves some 18.8 million customers
worldwide from offices in Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America and the United
States. Principal Financial Group, Inc. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange
under the ticker symbol PFG. For more information, visit www.principal.com.

1 "The Principal Financial Group" and "The Principal" are registered service
marks of Principal Financial Services, Inc., a member of the Principal Financial
Group.

2 As of March 31, 2009

Principal Financial Group, Inc.
Media Contact:
Susan Houser, 515-248-2268
Houser.Susan@principal.com
or
Investor Relations:
Tom Graf, 515-235-9500
investor-relations@principal.com

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