Alternative asset managers such as Apollo Global Management Inc., KKR & Co. Inc. and Blackstone Inc. are financing blue-chip companies increasingly as businesses look for new sources of capital to help counteract the effects of higher interest rates and a slowing economy.
Executives say the shift was a natural outgrowth of private credit’s fundraising spree, giving managers cash to lend. As well, most major private equity groups have bought or invested in an insurance company in the past five years, drawing in hundreds of billions of premiums to invest. Apollo is not alone. KKR bought a majority stake in insurer Global Atlantic Financial Group LLC in 2021, adding US$90-billion to the group’s assets at the time. Carlyle purchased just less than a fifth of reinsurer Fortitude Re from AIG in 2018 before striking a new deal last year that reduced its stake but boosted Carlyle’s assets by about US$50-billion. Blackstone, meanwhile, invests on behalf of insurers such as Corebridge Financial Inc. through its insurance solutions division.
That can prove attractive to companies needing to raise cash without tapping the investment-grade bond market, particularly when issuing more debt at the corporate level would influence a business’s credit rating. Apollo bought US$2-billion of AT&T preferred stock in a deal that allowed the wireless carrier to partially repay some of its outstanding preferred equity. That followed a US$1-billion investment in German real estate group Vonovia SE in a similar structure.
The use of insurance capital and private credit is just the latest example of blue-chip companies pairing up with alternative asset managers.