RGA announces investment and partnership with Velocity Capital Advisors

Reinsurance Group of America ( RGA ), a global life and health reinsurer, announced that it has made a minority investment into the holding company of Velocity Capital Advisors through a wholly-owned subsidiary. It has also entered into a long-term investment management agreement on behalf of one or more subsidiaries of RGA.

Velocity Structured Solutions , which has assets under management approaching $1.5 billion, provides cost effective, long-term capital to help sponsors of any fund type or sector enhance returns, optimize portfolio company balance sheets, or create liquidity for growth, succession planning or distributions. Velocity provides customized, non-dilutive debt and preferred equity financing solutions for a variety of alternative asset managers, including private equity funds, fund of funds, growth capital, hedge funds, venture capital, real estate, and credit-oriented strategies.

“We are excited about our strategic relationship with Velocity, which benefits both organizations, and provides RGA with another avenue to access attractive private assets. This is RGA’s first transaction of this type, and we plan to continue evaluating investments in alternative asset managers in the coming years as part of our strategic goal to further expand our investment platform.” – Leslie Barbi, Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, RGA.

“The entire Velocity team is grateful for and humbled by the support that all of our borrowers and investors have shown in our business since inception. RGA is the ideal partner for our firm as we enter our next phase of growth. They share our strategic vision for the business which is premised on providing tailored capital solutions to meet the unique liquidity needs of the alternative asset secondary market. With RGA’s support, and that of our other investors, we believe that we can continue to strengthen our market position by delivering a differentiated value proposition to all of the constituents that we serve.” – Ed Levy, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Velocity.

RBC Capital Markets served as exclusive financial advisor to RGA on the transaction. Additional terms of the transaction are not being disclosed.