AIG and CVC Announce Strategic Partnership to Scale Credit SMAs and Launch an Evergreen Private Equity Secondaries Platform

AIG and CVC Announce Strategic Partnership to Scale Credit SMAs and Launch an Evergreen Private Equity Secondaries Platform

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AIG and CVC Announce Strategic Partnership to Expand Long-Term Investment Capabilities

NEW YORK & LONDON — American International Group, Inc. (AIG) and global private markets manager CVC have announced a strategic partnership aimed at supporting AIG’s long-term investment objectives while leveraging CVC’s insurance-focused solutions and private markets innovation. The collaboration centers on two major initiatives: the creation of large-scale separately managed accounts (SMAs) across CVC’s credit strategies, and the launch of a private equity secondaries evergreen platform with AIG acting as a cornerstone investor.

The companies described the partnership as a long-term relationship focused on scale, alignment, and bespoke solutions that can also serve the needs of global institutional investors and private wealth channels. While the first two components are clearly defined, both firms signaled that they expect to explore additional areas of collaboration over time as the relationship matures and as market conditions evolve.

What the Partnership Includes

At its core, the partnership is designed to do two things at once: help AIG manage and optimize parts of its existing portfolio, and give CVC a meaningful anchor relationship that can accelerate product development and scaling—particularly in areas where insurers seek durable yield, stronger portfolio construction, and capital-efficient structures.

1) A New CVC Private Equity Secondaries Evergreen Platform, Seeded by AIG

Under the partnership, CVC will establish a private equity secondaries evergreen platform with AIG serving as a cornerstone investor. AIG expects to contribute up to $1.5 billion from its existing private equity portfolio to provide the platform with immediate scale and a seed portfolio.

From a practical standpoint, this structure is intended to deliver benefits for both sides:

  • For CVC, AIG’s contribution creates an initial portfolio and supports the launch of an evergreen secondaries strategy with meaningful size from day one.
  • For AIG, the move is positioned as a more efficient way to manage, transition, and potentially optimize legacy private equity exposures without relying solely on traditional, one-off portfolio actions.

Evergreen private market vehicles are often designed to be open-ended (rather than tied to a single “vintage” fund with a defined end date). In many cases, evergreen structures can help broaden access for different types of investors by offering periodic subscriptions and redemptions (subject to terms), while still targeting private market-style returns. AIG’s role as a cornerstone investor signals conviction in the strategy and creates an early alignment between the product sponsor and a large, sophisticated allocator.

2) Strategic SMAs Across CVC Credit, with Up to $2 Billion Planned Allocation

In parallel, AIG indicated that it intends to allocate up to $2 billion to SMAs and funds managed by CVC, with an initial $1 billion expected to be deployed through 2026. These SMAs are designed to provide AIG with tailored exposure to a mix of private and liquid credit strategies, structured to align with the insurer’s regulatory considerations, capital efficiency priorities, and investment return objectives.

SMAs are commonly used by large institutions—especially insurers—because they can be engineered around specific requirements such as:

  • Risk limits (duration, spread exposure, default risk, concentration caps)
  • Liquidity profiles (how quickly the portfolio can be adjusted or converted to cash)
  • Capital treatment (how regulators view different asset types and structures)
  • Reporting and transparency (look-through reporting, position-level data, and oversight)

The announcement also highlights CVC’s ability to design and manage large, customized mandates for global insurance companies, pointing to its integrated credit platform and origination capabilities across Europe and the United States. In an environment where credit selection, deal access, and structuring can materially affect outcomes, origination reach can be a key differentiator.

Why This Matters for AIG

AIG is one of the world’s best-known insurance organizations, and like many large insurers, it manages a substantial investment portfolio to support policyholder obligations and generate returns. Insurance portfolios must balance yield, safety, liquidity, and regulatory capital considerations. That means insurers often seek investment partners who can offer both performance potential and structural fit.

This partnership appears designed to support AIG’s approach of actively managing its investment portfolio while working with what it calls best-in-class partners. The secondaries evergreen initiative, in particular, is positioned as a more organized and scalable mechanism for handling legacy private equity exposures. Instead of letting those exposures run off without a strategic framework, the platform approach can provide a structured path for transition and ongoing management.

Meanwhile, the credit SMAs can help AIG pursue diversified sources of income in both liquid and private credit, while also maintaining control over constraints that matter to an insurer—especially capital efficiency and regulatory alignment. Even when two institutions share similar return goals, the “how” matters: portfolio construction, risk controls, stress testing, and reporting discipline can be just as important as headline performance targets.

Why This Matters for CVC

CVC is widely recognized as a major private markets manager with multiple strategies spanning private equity, secondaries, credit, and infrastructure, and with a broad global footprint. Partnering with a large insurer can be significant for an asset manager for several reasons:

  • Scale: Insurers can deploy large amounts of capital, often in multi-year programs.
  • Durability: Insurance balance sheets can be long-term oriented, supporting extended investment horizons.
  • Product innovation: Working with sophisticated insurance investors can help managers refine structures and reporting to meet demanding requirements.
  • Market credibility: A cornerstone relationship can serve as an endorsement that supports broader investor interest.

In the announcement, CVC leadership characterized the partnership as an endorsement of the firm’s ability to serve evolving insurance needs at scale. The credit SMA component showcases CVC’s ability to deliver tailored, capital-efficient solutions, while the evergreen secondaries platform gains an immediate base portfolio and scale.

CVC also referenced that this initiative builds on earlier product momentum, following the launch of evergreen-related offerings in prior periods. For investors, this can be a signal that the manager is investing in platforms designed to meet growing demand for more flexible access to private market exposure.

Understanding the Building Blocks: SMAs, Credit Strategies, and Secondaries

To appreciate the partnership’s significance, it helps to clarify a few key concepts. These are not “buzzwords”—they’re practical tools that shape how large institutions invest.

Separately Managed Accounts (SMAs) in Plain English

An SMA is a portfolio managed by an external manager but tailored to a single client’s needs. Unlike a commingled fund—where investors share one pooled vehicle—an SMA can be customized around rules that matter most to the investor. For insurers, that can include everything from permitted asset types to constraints on credit quality, duration, sector limits, and regulatory capital impacts.

Because the portfolio is tailored, an SMA can offer:

  • Better alignment with the investor’s liabilities and risk tolerance
  • More transparency into holdings and exposures
  • Customization that may improve capital efficiency or governance fit

Of course, SMAs also require strong operational coordination—reporting, oversight, and governance tend to be more intensive than with simpler pooled vehicles. The fact that this partnership contemplates large-scale SMAs suggests both parties expect a deep, process-driven relationship rather than a light-touch allocation.

Private and Liquid Credit: Why Insurers Care

Insurers often seek credit exposure because it can provide predictable income and potentially attractive risk-adjusted returns. Liquid credit tends to be publicly traded (and easier to buy or sell), while private credit involves lending or structured credit opportunities that are not traded on public markets and may offer additional yield in exchange for reduced liquidity and complexity.

When a credit program is built for an insurer, it often emphasizes:

  • Downside resilience through diversification and careful underwriting
  • Stable income suitable for long-dated obligations
  • Capital-aware design that can improve overall portfolio efficiency

By setting up SMAs across CVC’s credit strategies, the partnership aims to combine CVC’s origination and credit expertise with AIG’s need for well-structured, insurer-appropriate credit allocations.

Private Equity Secondaries: A Different Way to Access Private Equity

Secondaries generally refer to the purchase and sale of existing private equity interests—rather than investing at the start of a new fund. Secondaries can offer potential advantages such as more immediate exposure to underlying assets, the ability to purchase at negotiated prices, and potentially faster distributions compared with traditional blind-pool commitments (though results depend on market conditions and deal specifics).

An evergreen secondaries platform adds another layer: it’s often structured to accept capital on an ongoing basis, with a portfolio that is continuously managed and refreshed. This can appeal to investors who want:

  • Ongoing access rather than a one-time fund commitment
  • Portfolio continuity across market cycles
  • A managed approach to pacing, diversification, and liquidity terms

In this partnership, AIG’s contribution of up to $1.5 billion in existing private equity portfolio assets is expected to provide the platform with immediate scale and a seed portfolio. At the same time, the move is presented as a way for AIG to manage and transition legacy exposures more efficiently.

Strategic Alignment: Scale, Long-Term Relationship, and “Bespoke” Solutions

The announcement repeatedly emphasizes three themes: scale, alignment, and bespoke solutions. Those ideas matter because they suggest this is not just a standard manager allocation. Instead, it appears structured as a multi-part relationship where both sides commit meaningful resources and coordinate product design, governance, and execution.

For AIG, working with a major private markets manager that can tailor credit exposures and provide a structured secondaries platform can support both return goals and portfolio management objectives. For CVC, partnering with a prominent global insurer can accelerate platform scaling and reinforce its positioning in insurance-related investment solutions.

The companies also stated they expect to explore additional collaboration areas over time. While those future areas were not detailed in the announcement, this language often indicates openness to expanding into adjacent strategies, new structures, co-investments, or additional vehicles that fit the insurer’s needs and the manager’s capabilities.

Leadership Commentary Highlights

Both companies included supportive statements from senior leadership to underscore strategic intent and long-term focus.

CVC Leadership Perspective

CVC’s CEO described the partnership as an endorsement of CVC’s ability to serve large insurance institutions and deliver tailored solutions at scale. The commentary highlighted two points: the depth of the credit platform for bespoke SMA mandates, and the evergreen secondaries vehicle gaining a strong foundation through the transaction and seed portfolio.

AIG Leadership Perspective

AIG’s Chairman and CEO described CVC as a highly respected global investment manager with deep credit and private markets capabilities. AIG also noted that this marks its first collaboration with a European-headquartered asset manager under this type of strategic partnership framing, positioning it as part of AIG’s broader approach to actively managing its portfolio and working with differentiated partners.

Potential Market Implications and What to Watch Next

While the announcement is specific to AIG and CVC, it also reflects broader trends in institutional investing:

  • Insurers expanding private market exposure while focusing on capital-aware structuring
  • Growth of evergreen vehicles designed to meet demand from a wider range of investors, including private wealth
  • Increased use of SMAs as investors seek customization, transparency, and governance control

Going forward, market observers will likely watch for updates on:

  • Deployment pace of the initial $1 billion credit allocation through 2026
  • Portfolio composition and investment approach within the evergreen secondaries platform
  • Any additional collaboration areas that emerge as the relationship deepens

It’s also reasonable to expect that the partnership could influence how other insurers and asset managers think about pairing legacy portfolio management with new platform development. When a large insurer contributes significant existing assets as a cornerstone to an evergreen strategy, it can create a repeatable model—though the success of such a model depends heavily on execution, governance, market conditions, and the ability to manage liquidity terms responsibly.

About the Companies (Summary)

About AIG

American International Group, Inc. is a global insurance organization with extensive underwriting and investment operations. As with many insurers, investment strategy plays a central role in supporting policyholder obligations and financial strength.

About CVC

CVC is a global private markets manager with strategies spanning private equity, secondaries, credit, and infrastructure. The firm operates across multiple regions and has built an investment platform designed to serve large institutions, including global insurers, through customized mandates and broader product offerings.

Bottom line: This strategic partnership brings together AIG’s scale and portfolio management needs with CVC’s private markets and credit capabilities. With up to $1.5 billion in seed assets for an evergreen secondaries platform and up to $2 billion planned across credit SMAs and funds (including an initial $1 billion targeted through 2026), the initiative is positioned as a meaningful long-term collaboration rather than a simple, one-off allocation.

#AIG #CVC #PrivateMarkets #CreditInvesting #SlimScan #GrowthStocks #CANSLIM

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