KKR Eyes $700 Billion Push Into UK Pension Buyouts via Insurer Partnerships
Updated
Updated · Financial Times · Jul 1
KKR Eyes $700 Billion Push Into UK Pension Buyouts via Insurer Partnerships
2 articles · Updated · Financial Times · Jul 1
Summary
KKR has held talks with UK and continental European insurers about entering pension risk transfer through partnerships, using its Global Atlantic platform rather than buying a local insurer outright.
Those tie-ups would let KKR deploy capital into investments it sources while avoiding the full regulatory burden of owning a European insurance company, according to people familiar with the discussions.
UK insurance executives said KKR has approached some of the market’s biggest players in recent months and appears to be planning a gradual build-out with "big" ambitions.
KKR recently passed on backing Standard Life’s new pension risk transfer venture because it was seen as too small, though it could still pursue a similar joint-venture structure elsewhere.
The move would extend a broader private-capital push into European retirement assets after Athora’s £5.7 billion Pension Insurance Corporation deal and Brookfield’s £2.4 billion acquisition of Just Group.