KKR & Co. Inc. to Acquire Global Atlantic Financial Group, Ltd.

Due to high client demand, ALIRT Research has put together the following bullet-points on the recently announced acquisition of Global Atlantic by KKR & Co. Inc. Currently there is little additional information available on this transaction, but we will make sure to update our client base as we learn more.

China Oceanwide acquisition of Genworth Update

Last week, Genworth Financial Inc. (GNW) and China Oceanwide Holdings Group Co. Ltd. (CO) agreed to extend (again) the deadline for their proposed merger, to no later than September 30, 2020. This is now the 15th extension of the original agreement from October 2016. There are some new conditions that are part of this latest extension, which include that CO must demonstrate to GNW that it has $1.0 billion of funds available from its sources in Mainland China to fund the acquisition.

Another Florida Domestic Insurer Placed Under Regulatory Supervision

Today’s announcement that Gulfstream Property & Casualty Insurance Company (Gulfstream) was being placed under administrative supervision by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation marks just another instance of the ongoing challenges facing the Florida property market. As ALIRT outlined in a substantial release last June, the Florida domestic homeowners’ market – which is largely comprised of small, thinly capitalized insurers – remains under significant pressure given exposure to large windstorm losses, issues surrounding assignment of benefit abuses, and spiking reinsurance rates over the past several years.

U.S. Life Insurer Exposure to Less Liquid Bonds

Life insurers have long held a mix of assets with various liquidity profiles, from the very liquid to the nearly illiquid. Investments with the highest liquidity include investment grade bonds (especially government bonds), securities with a short remaining duration, and cash and cash equivalents . Less liquid securities include mortgage loans, below investment grade bonds, and alternative investments.

U.S. Life Insurer Exposure to Alternative (Schedule BA) Investments

Life insurance companies’ investment portfolios are heavily oriented to fixed income assets such as bonds (both “traditional” bonds and structured securities) and mortgage loans. These assets, together with policy loans and cash, comprised almost 90% of total life insurance industry investments in each of the last five years.

U.S. Life Insurance Industry Structured Security Exposure

In earlier client releases this spring, ALIRT detailed life insurance industry exposure to NAIC Class 2 (BBB rated) bonds, Below Investment Grade (BIG) bonds, and Mortgage Loans. In this release, we explore the life insurance industry’s exposure to mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities, which include the following: