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UK insurer Legal & General has struck a private credit partnership with Blackstone that the US alternative assets giant said could be worth up to $20bn by the end of the decade.
Blackstone will source private credit deals for the FTSE 100 company’s annuities business, in the latest example of European insurance and pension groups tapping US private capital groups to increase their exposure to a fast-growing asset class.
Under the agreement, L&G’s annuities business will use Blackstone to originate investment-grade private credit assets, mostly from the US, the companies said, with L&G investing up to 10 per cent of new flows from its annuities business.
L&G said the annuities origination agreement could be worth £1bn to £1.5bn each year over the next five years. The insurer’s asset management business also plans to develop “public-private hybrid” credit products as part of the partnership.
L&G chief executive António Simões said the insurer would benefit from “a more diverse pipeline of assets for our annuity book, and growth in asset management”.