Your insurer may be owned by a private equity firm. See who owns it, where your premiums are sent, and what they are invested in.
Private equity is buying up US life insurance
Source: NAIC Capital Markets Bureau, PE-owned insurers, year-end 2024
What is at stake for policyholders
Your policy may be reinsured offshore
Athene, for example, reinsures 80–100% of the business of its US companies with its own companies in Bermuda, where capital rules and reporting differ from US states.
The owner can earn on both sides
Athene paid Apollo $1.44bn in 2025 to manage its money, and held $35.4bn in investments tied to Apollo.
Investments are harder to value
PE-owned insurers increased their asset-backed and structured securities and their other long-term investments in 2024, according to the NAIC.
Less of it is public
US insurers list every holding in a yearly statement filed with state regulators. Offshore reinsurers do not file these statements.
Owners change without asking you
Your insurer can be sold, merged or renamed. Your contract stays the same, but the people managing your money do not.
Protection has limits
If an insurer fails, your state’s guaranty association steps in, but only up to a set amount per person.
In the news: private credit, AI and your insurer
Life insurers are among the biggest buyers of private credit, including the debt that pays for AI data centers. Regulators and journalists are starting to ask what that means for policyholders.
- AIUS life insurers increase AI investments as exposure risks grow, says Moody’sReinsurance News · 23 Oct 2026
- Private creditLife insurers concealed $21B in private-credit risk: lawsuitAmerican Banker · 8 Oct 2026
- Private equityThe private equity and private credit loop threatening life insurersForbes · 18 Sep 2026
- AIThe AI bailout could be baked into the AI bubbleThe American Prospect · 3 Aug 2026
- AIWall Street is funding the AI build-out with bonds the SEC never seesBisnow · 11 Jun 2026
- Private creditUS life insurers’ private credit push is creating liquidity and concentration risks, Moody’s warnsInsurance Business · 9 Jun 2026
- Private creditThe overlooked private credit risk is in life insuranceAxios · 3 Apr 2026
- RegulatorsLife insurers’ role in the intermediation chain of public and private credit to risky firmsFederal Reserve · 21 Mar 2025
Links open the original articles and reports. Headlines are the publishers’ own.
Your insurer isn’t PE-owned, but…
Many well-known insurers pass part of their business to reinsurers backed by investment firms. Your contract stays the same, but the risk and the money that backs it move.
- Corebridge Financial$74.3bnwith an Apollo-led group and Carlyle
- Lincoln Financial$34.7bnwith Carlyle, KKR and Apollo
- Guardian$19.3bnwith KKR and Sixth Street
- MetLife$18.5bnwith Sixth Street and KKR
- Principal$17.8bnwith Sixth Street
- USAA Life$17.6bnwith KKR and Apollo
- MassMutual$15.8bnwith Centerbridge and other investors and KKR
- Jackson National$13bnwith Apollo
- Allianz Life$6.87bnwith Sixth Street
- RiverSource (Ameriprise)$5.55bnwith KKR
- John Hancock$5.52bnwith KKR
- Unum$5.45bnwith KKR
- Brighthouse Financial$4.78bnwith Apollo
- Protective Life$3.17bnwith Apollo
- Equitable$2.98bnwith KKR
- OneAmerica$2.67bnwith KKR
- TruStage (CMFG Life)$1.55bnwith KKR
- Transamerica$1.21bnwith KKR and Apollo
- Pacific Life$1.15bnwith KKR
Amounts at the end of 2025, from the insurers’ 10-Ks and the reinsurers’ statements.
How we follow your premium
Who owns it
State approval filings show which firm controls your insurer.
Where it’s sent
Insurers can pass your policy to a reinsurer, often an affiliate in Bermuda.
What it buys
Yearly statements list every bond, loan and fund the insurer holds.
Who benefits
We check which of those investments link back to the owner’s own funds and companies.
Find your insurer
- AtheneApollo
- American NationalBrookfield
- Global AtlanticKKR
- Fortitude LifeCarlyle
- TalcottSixth Street
- Everlake LifeBlackstone
- VenerableApollo
- Security BenefitEldridge
- AspidaAres
- NassauGolden Gate Capital
- American Life & SecurityAntarctica Capital
- Prosperity LifeJAB
- Group 1001 (Delaware Life)Mark Walter (TWG Global)
- More insurers are added as their filings are checked.
Questions
Plain answers about your policy and this site. Nothing here is financial advice.
What is a private equity-owned insurer?
An insurance company controlled by a private equity firm or another investment firm. The firm often also manages the insurer’s money and earns fees for doing so.
Does this change my policy?
No. Your contract terms stay the same when an insurer changes owner or reinsures your policy. The company that issued your policy still owes you the benefits.
What does it mean when my policy is reinsured?
Your insurer pays another company to carry part of the risk of your policy. You keep dealing with your insurer. The question this site asks is who that other company is, and where the money backing your policy ends up.
Why does Bermuda come up so often?
Athene, for example, reinsures most of the business of its US companies with its own companies in Bermuda. Capital rules and public reporting there differ from US states.
What protects me if my insurer fails?
Every state has a guaranty association that covers policyholders up to set limits. The limits vary by state and by type of policy. Each insurer page lets you check your state.
Should I cancel or move my annuity?
Not because of this site alone. Moving an annuity can trigger surrender charges and taxes. Talk to a licensed adviser before changing a policy.
I can’t find my insurer. Why?
Your policy may carry an older company name. Search the sidebar for the name on your contract: former names are included. We add insurers as their filings are checked.
Where does the data come from?
Public filings: SEC annual reports, state insurance department exams, NAIC reports and rating agency announcements. Every section on an insurer page links to its sources.
What is this site for?
More and more US insurers are owned by investment firms, and the details sit in long regulatory filings few people read. We pull the key facts together so policyholders can see who owns their insurer and where their money goes. The site is for information only, free to use for now, and not linked to any insurer or investment firm.
Aspida
Controlled by Ares, which holds all the voting shares of Aspida’s parent company. About half of Aspida Life’s annuity reserves are reinsured with Aspida’s own company in the Cayman Islands, and an Ares unit manages all of its investments.
- Controlling owner
- Ares
- Sells
- Annuities
- Owned since
- 2020
As of year-end 2025 filings, unless a figure says otherwise.
Is this your policy?
Company names
- Aspida Life Insurance Company (Michigan; not licensed in New York)
Former names
- UBS Life Insurance Company USA (renamed 1 Dec 2021)
Products
- Synergy Choice MYGA
- Synergy Choice Bonus
- Synergy Choice Income
- Synergy Choice Max
- WealthLock Accumulator
- WealthLock MYGA
- Aspida Advisory MYGA
- DreamPath RILA
Quick check
| Independence factors | Figure | Reliance on the owner |
|---|---|---|
| Money managed by the ownerShare of its investments run by the owner’s own firm | All [1] | High |
| Business reinsured with own companiesShare of its policies passed to reinsurers in the owner’s group | 50% [1] | Medium |
| Investments tied to the ownerShare of its investments put into the owner’s own funds and companies | 2.9% [1] | Low |
| Fees paid to the ownerWhat it pays the owner each year to manage its money | $15m0.10% of its investments a year [1] | Low |
| Hard-to-sell investmentsLoans and complex securities that are not traded on a market | 52.9% [1] | High |
Low, Medium and High show how much the insurer relies on its owner, using the thresholds in our methodology. Our own reading of the filings, not a credit rating or financial advice. If an insurer fails, your state’s guaranty association protects policyholders up to a set limit (nolhga.com).
Who owns it
- United StatesOwner · controls via Ares Holdco, Ares Holdings and AIP GPAres Management Corporation
- Registration not statedHolds all voting shares of Aspida Holdings Ltd.Ares Insurance Partners L.P.
- Registration not statedGroup holding companyAspida Holdings Ltd.
- Delaware, United StatesUS holding companyAspida Holdings, LLC
- Michigan, United StatesYour insurerAspida Life Insurance Company
The filings say Ares controls all voting shares of Aspida Holdings Ltd. They do not say what share of Aspida’s equity Ares owns; outside investors put money in alongside Ares in 2025. Ares’s 10-K says Bermuda’s regulator treats Ares as the “shareholder controller” of Aspida Re, its Bermuda reinsurer. The filings do not say where two of these companies are registered.
Changes of control
- 1956
- Organized in California (later UBS Life Insurance Company USA)
- 2020
- Ares buys F&G Reinsurance, renamed Aspida Life Re (18 Dec 2020)
- 2021
- Aspida Holdings buys UBS Life Insurance Company USA (Nov 2021), renamed Aspida Life
- 2022
- Redomesticated to Michigan
- 2023
- Starts reinsuring annuities with Aspida Re Cayman (1 Dec 2023)
Where your premium goes
- 1 · You payPremiumAnnuities
- 2 · Your insurerAspida Life Insurance Co.Michigan
- 3 · Reinsured withAspida Re Cayman Ltd.Affiliated Class B(iii) insurer
- 4 · Money managed byAres$15m in fees in 2025
- 5 · Invested in$14.5bn of assetsSee below
49.9% of the business written by Aspida’s US companies is reinsured with its own companies in Cayman Islands. [1]
What it invests in
Source [1]
Links back to the owner
Your insurer invests part of your premiums in businesses tied to Ares: its own funds, companies those funds own, and lenders it controls.
| Where the money went | How it is tied to Ares | Amount, end of 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Affiliated limited partnerships | Stated as affiliated | $345m |
| Affiliated asset-backed securities | Stated as affiliated | $70m |
| Affiliated residual equity | Stated as affiliated | $1m |
| All related-party investments | 2.9% of total investments | $416m |
Source [1]
Sources
- [1]Aspida Life Insurance Company, audited statutory-basis financial statements 2025 and 2024 (in Form N-4 485BPOS, SEC, 30 Apr 2026)Note 7, Federal Income Taxes; Shares of total cash and invested assets ($14,527m in 2025, $7,604m in 2024), from the audited statutory statements. 2025 bonds follow the NAIC’s new bond definition and 2024 bonds the old categories, so the corporate and asset-backed lines are not strictly comparable. The private share counts all asset-backed bonds, because the filing does not separate government-agency mortgage bonds, so it is an upper bound; Note 9, Related Party Transactions
- [2]Ares Management Corporation, 10-K for 2025 (SEC, 25 Feb 2026)
- [3]AM Best, rating disclosure for Aspida Life Insurance Company (AMB# 006882)
- [4]Aspida, company website (products)
- [5]Ares Management Corporation, 10-K for 2020 (SEC, 25 Feb 2021)
- [6]Ares and Aspida, “Ares Management Raises Over $2.3 Billion of Equity Commitments to Support the Long-Term Growth of Aspida” (Jan 2025)
- [7]Aspida Life Re, financial statements 2025 (BMA)
Methodology
How we measure an insurer’s independence from its owner.
What it is
A credit rating tells you whether an insurer can pay its claims. It does not tell you how much the insurer depends on the firm that owns it. When one firm owns the insurer, manages its money, reinsures its policies and sells it investments, the policyholder’s money stays inside one group. This indicator shows how far that goes.
It is our own assessment, built only from public filings. It is not a credit rating and not financial advice.
The five indicators
| Indicator | What we measure | Low | Medium | High | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Money managed by the owner | Share of investments managed by the owner or its affiliates | Below 25% | 25–75% | Above 75% | Investment management agreement in the annual report or statutory filing |
| Business reinsured with own companies | Share of the insurer’s business reinsured with companies in the same group | Below 20% | 20–50% | Above 50% | Reinsurance note of the annual report; Schedule S of the statutory statement |
| Investments tied to the owner | Related-party investments as a share of all investments | Below 3% | 3–10% | Above 10% | Related-party note; affiliated holdings in Schedules D and BA |
| Fees paid to the owner | Investment management fees paid to the owner, as a share of invested assets | Below 0.2% | 0.2–0.5% | Above 0.5% | Related-party note of the annual report |
| Hard-to-sell investments | Investments that are not traded on a market and are hard to value or sell quickly: mortgage loans, asset-backed, mortgage-backed and CLO securities, and alternatives, as a share of investments | Below 20% | 20–40% | Above 40% | Investment tables of the annual report; Schedules D and BA |
How the overall result is set
Each indicator scores 2 for Low, 1 for Medium and 0 for High reliance on the owner. The five scores are added up, for a total between 0 and 10. A higher score means a more independent insurer.
When a filing does not publish what an indicator needs, that indicator is left out and the total is scaled to 10. We give an overall result only when at least three of the five indicators can be assessed.
- 7–10Independence: High
- 4–6Independence: Medium
- 0–3Independence: Low
Example: Athene scores High on three indicators and Medium on two, for a total of 2 out of 10. Its independence from Apollo is Low.
Limits
- Thresholds are our own. We will review them once enough insurers are covered to compare.
- Group filings can mix the insurer with its offshore reinsurers. We say which entity each figure covers.
- When a figure is not published, the indicator is marked as not assessed rather than guessed.
- Figures are as of the latest annual filing and can change during the year.