Kuvare and Aquarian Make Bermuda Deals

News January 19, 2023 at 11:16 AM
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Kuvare Holdings has broken through the thick new sheets of dealmaking ice.

Higher interest rates and economic uncertainty have frozen announcements of mergers, acquisitions and other major deals in many sectors, but some companies in the life and annuity market have managed to start or close transactions anyway.

Kuvare, for example, announced the use of cash from an outside investor to form Kindley Re Ltd., a new, Bermuda-based life and annuity reinsurance company.

Another company, Aquarian Holdings, has announced the consummation of efforts to acquire control over Somerset Reinsurance Ltd., an existing Bermuda-based life and annuity reinsurer.

What It Means

Mergers, acquisitions and other deals may continue to reshape the supply of life and annuity options available to your clients, and possibly, continue to create opportunities for insurance agents and investment advisors to sell their practices.

The Moves

Here's a look at the kinds of deals players in the life and annuity sector have been announcing this month.

1. Bermuda

Kuvare, a Chicago-based life and annuity company, said it worked with Davidson Kempner Capital Management, a New York-based investment firm with $36 billion in assets under management, to form Kindley Re.

Kindley Re will " co-invest at least $400 million with Kuvare in qualifying life insurance and annuity transactions," according to Kuvare.

Kindley Re could help reinsure existing blocks of Kuvare business, and it could also assume a percentage of the risk associated with some of the new business Kuvare-affiliated insurers write. The list of Kuvare affiliates includes Lincoln Benefit Life, Guaranty Income Life and United Life.

Kuvare affiliates will help run Kindley Re's operations and manage its assets.

Kuvare was founded in 2015 by Dhiren Jhaveri and a group of investors.

Aquarian, a New York-based company, announced the Somerset Re deal in 2022.

Aquarian now owns a large stake in Somerset Re. Hannover Re and Weiss Family Interests also owns stakes in the company.

Aquarian says it will "provide a substantial amount of immediate and committed new capital" to help Somerset Re support a strong pipeline of opportunities. Somerset Re executive five new reinsurance treaties in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Aquarian will also serve as asset manager for Somerset Re.

2. Connector Tech

Advisor360°, a Weston, Massachusetts-based wealth management technology firm, acquired Agreement Express technology assets from Frontier Growth, a private equity firm. Advisor360° says it can use the technology assets to connect investment and insurance accounts at every major custodian and clearing firm with its own systems.

Pacific Life has agreed to distribute its life insurance policies through Modern Life, a New York-based life insurance brokerage that uses digital systems and call centers to help insurance agents and financial advisors with life insurance policy sales.

3. Underwriting Tech

Reinsurance Group of America, a Chesterfield, Missouri-based life and annuity reinsurer, has agreed to use artificial intelligence technology from Digital Owl, a New York-based startup, to create more focused abstracts of the medical records flowing through its applicant underwriting systems.

4. Assets That Zig When the World Zags

Nassau Financial Group has merged with Angel Island Capital Management and made AIC a subsidiary of its own asset management unit.

Nassau is a Hartford, Connecticut-based life insurer, reinsurer and asset manager with $18 billion in assets under management.

AIC, a specialty credit investment firm with $3.6 billion in assets, was founded in 2008 by Golden Gate Capital. It works with high-yield bonds, distressed debt, and other arrangements for companies with complicated financing needs.

5. Growth

Pan-American Life, a New Orleans-based life insurer, has acquired Mutual Trust Life Insurance Company through a merger. Mutual Trust will continue to operate from its existing offices in Oak Brook, Illinois, according to Pan-American.

Integrity Marketing, a Dallas-based financial services distributors that has used private equity support to buy many other companies, has acquired Gladstone Wealth Partners, a wealth manager and RIA founded in 2012. Gladstone oversees $13 billion of assets under management and advisement.

AXG Advisors, a 4-year-old Philadelphia-based insurance broker that serves wealthy clients, acquired the operations of Rose Glen, a Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, based life and annuity firm, to expand its operations.

George Papanier, an AXG co-founder, worked for Morey Goldberg, the owner of Rose Glen, before he left to help start AXG. Goldberg will become a senior advisor at AXG, according to AXG.

Pictured: Hamilton, Bermuda. (Photo: Andrew F. Kazmierski/Shutterstock)

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