OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In this episode of AMBestTV, Jason Hopper, associate director, industry research and analytics of AM Best, said that insurers have increased their private equity holdings by 10% year over year to $81 billion in 2019. Click on http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=privateequity620 to view the entire program.
Hopper said that insurers have been shifting more money to private equity investments in the last few years.
“Private equity holdings have increased 40% since 2015,” said Hopper. “Life insurers have been driving that trend and account for about three-quarters of total insurance industry holdings. Commitments for additional investments are also up 10% in each of the last four years. So there has been continued interest also into the future for a couple of years by insurers to continue to stay in this asset class.”
Hopper also highlighted to what extent the pandemic is impacting the private equity market.
“The pandemic has affected pretty much every asset class across the board,” said Hopper. “Private equity closings dropped over 25% year over year in the first quarter of 2020. However, capital raised has increased over 20%. So all these private equity firms are sitting on this lump sum of cash waiting to deploy it. The issue today is how to exactly value these companies when their revenue streams have been either substantially cut or pretty much stopped altogether in the face of the COVID-19 crisis. Once the economic gears start turning again, AM Best believes insurers will contribute more money to this asset class to benefit from that and gain some additional yield.”
To access the related market segment report, titled, “U.S. Insurers’ Private Equity Holdings Continue to Climb,” please visit http://www3.ambest.com/bestweek/purchase.asp?record_code=298682.*
Recent episodes of AMBestTV include:
- AM Best: Florida Personal Property Writers Challenged Even Without a Hurricane: Michelle Baurkot, director, and Chris Draghi, senior financial analyst, both of AM Best, said that Florida writers struggled to turn a 2019 underwriting profit even with the absence of a major hurricane: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=ambfloridareport720.
- Insurtech Movement Joins Forces for Week of Presentations: The formation of the Northeast Insurtech Alliance, which is made up of innovation-focused executives from five organizations throughout the northeastern United States: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=northeastinsurtechalliance720.
- AM Best: Workers’ Comp Writers Brace for COVID-19 Hit: Decreased premiums and unexpected claims could negatively impact workers’ compensation writers, said Sridhar Manyem, director, and Dan Mangano, financial analyst, both of AM Best: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=workerscomp620.
- IICF Raises $1 Million to Help Children in Pandemic: Lloyd’s donated $500,000 to the new children’s fund, said Hank Watkins. president of Lloyd’s Americas, and board member, Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation’s Northeast Division: http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=watkins620.
AMBestTV covers exclusive AM Best and insurance industry information and reports, targeted topics and key developments in the insurance, reinsurance and related sectors daily. Sign up for alerts of episodes at www.ambest.com/multimedia/ambtvsignup.html. View AMBestTV episodes at www.ambest.tv.
AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specializing in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in New York, London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.
Copyright © 2020 by A.M. Best Company, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
