TPG CEO Says Firm In Talks To Tap Insurers’ Vast Cash Pools

(Bloomberg) -- TPG Inc. is in talks with insurers on how to tap their vast reserves of capital, the private equity firm's chief executive officer said. 

The firm's purchase of credit shop Angelo Gordon and its lending and financing teams makes TPG “situated for that insurance opportunity,” CEO Jon Winkelried said Tuesday at the Goldman Sachs US Financial Services Conference. “The issue now is how do we go after it?”  

The comment reflects how the firm plans to grow further beyond its buyout roots. 

Alternative asset managers have snapped up stakes in insurers, which are plowing more money into credit funds and other complex investments for fee streams and extra returns. 

Firms have tried different tactics to deepen ties with insurers, which can potentially give alternative asset managers access to new pools of money for bigger financing plays. Apollo Global Management Inc. owns all of annuities giant Athene, while Blackstone Inc. has taken minority stakes in insurers. 

TPG, which doesn't have a big insurance partner like its rivals, isn't looking to absorb an entire insurance firm onto its balance sheet for now. TPG's bias would be to take a more “capital-lite” approach, Winkelried said, maybe even asking investors to pony up money alongside the firm for an insurance play. 

The CEO isn't ruling out more aggressive wagers, though. 

“The environment is dynamic enough where, you know, if I come back to you at some point and I say, ‘we're doing something different,' it'll be for a good reason,” he said. 

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