Aflac Inc. has turned to KKR & Co. for a push into private equity as Chief Investment Officer Eric Kirsch diversifies the insurer's portfolio of almost $120 billion.
The buyout firm is developing and managing a customized private equity portfolio for the insurer, a spokeswoman for New York-based KKR said Tuesday.
Kirsch, who joined Aflac in 2011 from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., has been expanding the insurer's holdings of corporate bonds and loans to offset pressure from low interest rates on government securities in the United States and Japan, its largest markets. He has also been working with fund managers including Acore Capital LP and NXT Capital and said in May that he would be further diversifying the portfolio.
"We are going to initiate growth assets, alternatives," in the second half of this year, he said in May.
He struck a deal with NXT in March to fund a $500 million portfolio for commercial loans to middle-market borrowers, while also taking a minority stake in the firm. The insurer also works with Goldman Sachs' asset manager as well as Voya Financial Inc.'s investing arm, according to regulatory filings.
