Guides
Private equity's push into life insurance
Why investment firms own life insurers and annuity writers, what the Fed, IMF and NAIC worry about, the industry reply, and what policyholders should check.
Private equity and other alternative asset managers now own or are tied to a meaningful slice of the U.S. life and annuity industry. They are drawn by long-term policyholder money they can invest in private credit; regulators worry that complex structures and riskier assets could leave less cushion than the capital rules assume. Supporters say the capital and investment skill these firms bring help insurers offer competitive products, and that state regulation still applies in full.
Why investment firms want life insurers
A life insurer or annuity writer collects premiums now and pays benefits years or decades later. In between it invests the money and earns more than it credits to customers. For an asset manager, that pool of long-term money is attractive for two reasons: it is sticky (life and annuity contracts are hard to withdraw quickly), and it provides a large base of assets to manage and earn fees on.
Several of the buyers appear in the insurer profiles on this site:
- Global Atlantic was majority-acquired by KKR in 2021, and KKR bought the remaining stake on January 2, 2024.
- Everlake Life was formed when Blackstone-managed entities bought Allstate's life and annuity companies in a deal that closed November 1, 2021.
- Talcott Financial Group has been owned by an affiliate of Sixth Street since June 30, 2021, after earlier ownership by a private-equity-led investor group.
- Kuvare grew by acquiring smaller insurers and reinsuring blocks from others, and runs a Bermuda reinsurer.
- F&G Annuities & Life came out of a 2017 blank-check-company purchase before FNF, a title insurer, acquired it in 2020.
- Brighthouse Financial agreed on November 6, 2025 to be bought by an Aquarian Holdings affiliate for $70 a share; shareholders approved the deal in February 2026, with regulatory approvals pending in the latest information we have.
- Athene, one of the largest annuity writers, merged with its asset-manager affiliate Apollo in 2022.
The NAIC, the association of state insurance regulators, tracks the trend. Its private equity page counted 139 private-equity-owned U.S. insurers as of June 2025, up from 137 at year-end 2024.
What the concerns are
Regulators and international bodies have raised the following. Each is a risk to monitor, not a finding that policyholders have been harmed.
- Riskier, less liquid assets. The International Monetary Fund's December 2023 note on private equity and life insurers found that private-equity-influenced insurers appeared to hold significantly more illiquid investments than other insurers, which can raise valuation, credit and liquidity risk. It also flagged conflicts of interest and limited transparency when the owner also manages the insurer's assets.
- Affiliated reinsurance. A Bank for International Settlements paper from September 2024 reported that private-equity-linked U.S. life insurers had ceded risk to affiliated insurers equal to nearly half their total assets (nearly $400 billion), and that about 40% of ceded risk across major U.S. life insurers went to offshore reinsurers. See Offshore reinsurance and Bermuda: why it matters to policyholders.
- System-wide risk. The Federal Reserve's Financial Stability Reports have said life insurers are shifting toward riskier and less liquid holdings such as leveraged loans, collateralized loan obligations and private credit. The Financial Stability Oversight Council has also warned that complex investment strategies and reliance on offshore reinsurers with weaker capital requirements could undermine insurers' stability.
- Time horizons. State regulators have worried that an owner may favor short-term returns over a policyholder's decades-long interest.
What the industry and regulators say back
- The American Council of Life Insurers says life insurers hold about 20% of U.S. corporate bonds, that private credit has been in insurer portfolios for decades, and that state regulators impose capital, reserve, asset-adequacy testing and disclosure requirements on those investments.
- Supporters argue that fresh capital lets insurers write more annuities and back guarantees at competitive rates, and that private-credit returns can support better crediting rates for customers.
- Regulators have been tightening. Since 2013, NAIC guidance has told state regulators how to attach conditions when they approve an acquisition (the "Form A" review). In August 2025 the NAIC adopted Actuarial Guideline 55, which requires asset adequacy testing for certain reinsurance ceded to offshore reinsurers, starting with year-end 2025 reporting. And the NAIC's Macroprudential Working Group has set out 13 considerations for monitoring private-equity-owned insurers, which have already produced added annual-statement disclosures.
What it means for a policyholder
For a term or whole life policy, the contract terms are fixed in the policy and enforced by state law whoever owns the insurer. The practical exposure is greater with annuities and policies whose values depend on the insurer's investment results. Ownership by an asset manager is not itself a sign of weakness, and traditional insurers have also failed or needed rescue. What matters is the company's actual capital, assets and ratings; see risk-based capital and life insurer solvency for how regulators measure the first of these.
A checklist if your insurer has a new owner
- Read the notices. A change in owner usually does not change your contract; a change in the insurer or administrator might. See when your life insurance policy is sold to another company.
- Check the AM Best, S&P, Moody's and Fitch ratings explained from AM Best, S&P, Moody's and Fitch, and read the commentary on reinsurance and investments.
- Confirm the legal insurer name on your policy, not just the brand.
- Look up your state's guaranty association limits with the state guaranty association coverage lookup tool, and keep any single insurer's exposure within them if you are concerned.
- For annuities, compare guarantees and surrender terms before adding money; see fixed annuity.
- Do not cancel permanent coverage in a hurry. Replacing a policy can cost more than the risk you are avoiding (see replacing a life insurance policy: when it makes sense).
Key takeaways
- Private equity ownership is a structure, not a verdict: regulators monitor it closely, while the industry argues it brings capital and investment skill.
- The main concerns from the IMF, BIS, Federal Reserve and NAIC are illiquid assets, affiliated and offshore reinsurance, and conflicts when the owner manages the assets.
- Your contractual benefits stay the same after a sale; what changes is the risk behind the promise.
- Check ratings, the legal insurer name and guaranty limits rather than reacting to headlines.