MetLife Adds Privately-Placed Debt, Hedges Portugal
This article is for subscribers only.
MetLife Inc., the largest U.S. life insurer, is expanding private lending to corporations as Chief Investment Officer Steven Kandarian seeks to bolster returns on the firm’s $443 billion portfolio amid near-zero interest rates.
“In four of the last five years, we’ve been the No. 1 asset originator in this sector,” Kandarian said today at a presentation in New York, where MetLife is based. “You get paid an illiquidity premium for holding these kinds of securities.”