Antarctic Capital to Acquire Annuity Issuer for $100M

What You Need to Know

Antarctic Capital has $100 million in assets.
It formed a Barbados-based reinsurer in 2016.
An affiliate manages satellites.

Another asset manager wants in on the U.S. annuity game.

Antarctic Capital has agreed to acquire Midwest Holding for $100 million in cash, and it says it plans to keep the company’s management, employees, offices and operations in place.

Chandra Patel, Antarctic Capital’s managing partner, said the firm intends to “accelerate Midwest’s ‘capital light strategy’ to drive future growth.”

What It Means

Investors in the public stock market have been squinting at life insurers suspiciously since the banks began having their problems, but investors in the private equity sector seem friendlier.

Continued asset manager interest in annuities could help increase the supply of annuities and hold the price down.

The Players

Antarctic Capital was founded in 2010 and has offices in New York.

It has $1.2 billion in assets under management

One of its best known affiliates is EarthDaily Analytics Corp., a company that launches and manages satellites.

The firm started Weddell Re, a reinsurer based in Barbados, in 2016.

Patel, the managing partner, has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas, a master’s degree from the London School of Economics and a law degree from Boston College.

Midwest Holding is Lincoln, Nebraska-based life insurer with stock that has been trading on Nasdaq.