Insurers Are Embracing Private Credit Like It’s the 1920s, Blackstone’s Sherrill Says

The insurance industry’s embrace of private credit is an echo of how it used to invest in the early 20th century, says Blackstone’s Phil Sherrill, the company’s head of insurance.

A century ago, insurers put more money to work in hard-to-liquidate private projects. Consider New York City’s Empire State Building, financed in 1929 by a loan from the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, or fast food company McDonald’s Corp., paid for in part thanks to a loan against life insurance policies.