- AIG committed up to $3.5 billion to a strategic partnership with CVC, including $2 billion for credit strategies and up to $1.5 billion to seed a private equity secondaries evergreen platform.
- The credit mandate gives AIG access to tailored SMAs and funds designed to meet regulatory, capital-efficiency and return targets, with about $1 billion expected to be deployed by end-2026.
- The secondaries vehicle makes AIG a cornerstone investor and provides a path to transition legacy illiquid private equity holdings while giving CVC scale for a new evergreen platform.
- The deal underscores insurers shift toward private credit and secondaries and managers push for sticky institutional capital, while execution, liquidity and valuation risks remain key watch items.
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This agreement represents a structurally meaningful shift in how major insurers source returns and manage legacy assets. By allocating up to $2 billion into SMAs/funds managed by CVC—and $1.5 billion in AIG’s own private equity portfolio to seed a secondaries evergreen vehicle—AIG is both purchasing future alpha and addressing past illiquidity. ([cvc.com](https://www.cvc.com/media/news/2026/aig-and-cvc-announce-strategic-partnership/?utm_source=openai))
From AIG’s perspective, the benefits are multiple: diversification away from traditional fixed income and public credit; the ability to control regulatory capital and duration more granularly via SMAs; and the option to efficiently exit or monetize aging private equity positions through secondaries rather than entire fund liquidations. The requirement to deploy $1 billion by end-2026 provides a near-term test of execution and impact. ([cvc.com](https://www.cvc.com/media/news/2026/aig-and-cvc-announce-strategic-partnership/?utm_source=openai))
For CVC, the deal delivers scale, fee capture, and enhanced reputation. AIG’s commitment acts as a capital anchor for its new evergreen platform—reducing fundraising risk—and gives credibility to CVC’s insurance-oriented credit and private markets offerings. This may help CVC compete more effectively against peers like Blackstone or Apollo, which have similarly pursued institutional mandates. ([ft.com](https://www.ft.com/content/3da99a61-da4d-4d39-a051-8eab313ac5f1?utm_source=openai))
Strategic implications include pressure on insurers to improve deployment processes (especially for credit SMAs), the growing importance of evergreen secondaries vehicles, and increasing competition within alternative asset managers to offer bespoke solutions. Regulatory, liquidity and valuation risks accompany these ambitions—especially if private credit spreads compress or performance fails to meet expectations. Moreover, for AIG, aligning investment returns with capital requirements without overly increasing asset risk will be key.
Open questions to monitor include: how liquidity and redemption terms will be structured for AIG’s contributions; what governance and fee terms CVC will offer given the size and bespoke nature of the mandates; how quickly the secondaries evergreen platform can deploy capital and transition legacy private equity holdings; and whether similar partnerships will accelerate across the insurance sector, impacting the competitive landscape.
Supporting Notes
- AIG will commit up to $2 billion to SMAs and funds managed by CVC’s credit strategies, with about $1 billion expected to be deployed through 2026. ([cvc.com](https://www.cvc.com/media/news/2026/aig-and-cvc-announce-strategic-partnership/?utm_source=openai))
- AIG will provide up to $1.5 billion from its existing private equity portfolio to seed CVC’s private equity secondaries evergreen platform. ([cvc.com](https://www.cvc.com/media/news/2026/aig-and-cvc-announce-strategic-partnership/?utm_source=openai))
- The deal gives AIG tools to transition its legacy illiquid private equity exposures more efficiently using the secondaries structure. ([cvc.com](https://www.cvc.com/media/news/2026/aig-and-cvc-announce-strategic-partnership/?utm_source=openai))
- This is AIG’s first major partnership with a European headquartered asset manager, the first such collaboration as stated by AIG’s CEO Peter Zaffino. ([insurancejournal.com](https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2026/01/20/854817.htm?utm_source=openai))
- CVC’s enterprise size is approximately €200 billion in assets under management, underpinning its capacity to manage large bespoke insurance mandates. ([investing.com](https://www.investing.com/news/company-news/aig-partners-with-cvc-in-35-billion-investment-strategy-93CH-4453340?utm_source=openai))
- The arrangement is consistent with industry trends in which insurers increasingly allocate to alternative asset classes including private credit, infrastructure, private markets, and secondaries. ([ft.com](https://www.ft.com/content/3da99a61-da4d-4d39-a051-8eab313ac5f1?utm_source=openai))