AIG Forges Multi-Billion Dollar Partnership with CVC, Deepening Push into Private Markets

NEW YORK, NY – January 19, 2026 – Global insurance giant American International Group, Inc. (AIG) has announced a landmark strategic partnership with European private markets manager CVC, committing up to $3.5 billion across CVC's credit and private equity platforms. The deal represents one of the most significant recent moves by an insurer to optimize its investment portfolio by embracing alternative assets, reflecting a powerful industry-wide trend.

Under the terms of the agreement, AIG will act as a cornerstone investor in CVC’s new private equity secondaries evergreen platform, contributing up to $1.5 billion from its existing private equity holdings. In parallel, AIG intends to allocate up to $2 billion to a series of separately managed accounts (SMAs) and funds focused on CVC’s diversified private and liquid credit strategies, with an initial $1 billion to be deployed by the end of 2026.

This collaboration marks a pivotal moment for both firms. For AIG, it provides a sophisticated mechanism to manage legacy assets and access higher-yield opportunities. For CVC, it offers a powerful endorsement and immediate scale for its newest investment vehicles.

AIG's Strategic Portfolio Overhaul

This partnership is not a reactive measure but a calculated step in AIG's broader strategy to actively enhance its investment returns and capital efficiency. The company has demonstrated robust financial health, reporting strong performance in 2024 and pursuing its 'AIG Next' program, which aims to achieve $500 million in savings by 2025. This move into private markets is an offensive play from a position of strength, designed to build on its recent successes.

AIG's investment income has been on an upward trajectory, driven by a deliberate reallocation of assets toward higher-yield fixed maturities and private credit. The partnership with CVC, AIG's first with a European-headquartered asset manager, accelerates this strategy. The $1.5 billion transfer of legacy private equity assets into CVC's secondaries platform allows AIG to efficiently transition these holdings, freeing up capital and management resources while gaining exposure to a professionally managed, diversified portfolio.

Peter Zaffino, Chairman & CEO of AIG, framed the deal as a core part of this evolution. “CVC is a highly respected, world-class global investment manager with deep capabilities across credit and private markets,” Zaffino stated in the announcement. “This partnership... supports AIG’s strategy of actively managing our investment portfolio while working with best-in-class partners to access differentiated opportunities.”

The $2 billion allocation to CVC's credit strategies via SMAs is equally crucial. These customized accounts are designed to align with AIG’s specific regulatory and capital requirements, providing tailored access to diversified credit opportunities that offer a significant yield pick-up over traditional public market debt, a key objective for insurers navigating a complex economic environment.

A Cornerstone Win for CVC's Expanding Platform

The partnership is a major validation for CVC, a global private markets powerhouse with approximately €201 billion in assets under management. Securing AIG as a cornerstone investor provides immediate scale and a high-quality seed portfolio for its new private equity secondaries evergreen platform, a vehicle designed to offer continuous access to the asset class for institutional and wealthy individual investors.

The deal provides CVC with a significant source of long-term, stable capital—often referred to as 'sticky capital' in the industry—which generates predictable management fees and strengthens its ability to execute its investment strategy at scale. It follows the launch of CVC's credit evergreen and private equity products in the last year, underscoring the firm's focus on innovative fund structures that meet the evolving demands of large institutions.

“Our partnership with AIG is a powerful endorsement of CVC’s ability to serve the evolving needs of global insurance institutions at scale,” said Rob Lucas, CEO of CVC. He noted that the SMA component “demonstrates the depth of our credit platform,” while the secondaries transaction “provides a compelling foundation for our private equity evergreen secondaries vehicle.”

Riding the Wave of a Booming Secondaries Market

The AIG-CVC deal is set against the backdrop of a red-hot private equity secondaries market. This segment, once a niche corner of finance, has exploded into a mainstream portfolio management tool. Global transaction volumes hit a record $103 billion in the first half of 2025, with full-year activity projected to surpass $210 billion.

This growth is fueled by several factors. Institutional investors (Limited Partners) are increasingly using the secondary market to generate liquidity and rebalance their portfolios after years of muted distributions from private equity funds. For sellers like AIG, it offers an efficient exit from older fund commitments. For buyers, secondaries provide access to seasoned, de-risked assets, often at a discount, with the benefit of a shorter investment horizon and quicker cash returns—mitigating the so-called 'J-curve' effect common in new private equity funds.

The market's sophistication has grown alongside its size, with an increasing prevalence of complex GP-led transactions, where a fund manager initiates the sale of one or more assets to a new continuation vehicle. AIG's strategic contribution to CVC's platform is a prime example of how large institutions are now using these advanced market mechanisms for strategic, rather than purely tactical, purposes.

The New Symbiosis: Insurers and Alternative Assets

The trend of insurers allocating significant capital to alternative asset managers is reshaping the investment landscape. Firms like Blackstone, Apollo, and KKR have all forged deep relationships with insurance companies, which possess the long-duration liabilities that are a natural match for the long-term, illiquid nature of private market investments.

Private credit, in particular, has become a favored asset class, with some estimates suggesting it comprises over a third of North American insurers' alternative investments. The appeal lies in its potential for higher, stable returns and its defensive characteristics.

Furthermore, the structure of these partnerships is key to their success. By using SMAs and other sophisticated vehicles, insurers can work with managers like CVC to create investment solutions that are optimized for capital efficiency under regulatory frameworks such as the NAIC's risk-based capital (RBC) requirements in the U.S. and Solvency II in Europe. For example, structuring a credit investment through a rated note can significantly reduce the capital an insurer must hold against that asset, freeing up resources for other priorities.

This growing symbiosis between the two sectors is not without regulatory scrutiny, as bodies like the IMF monitor for potential risks related to transparency and asset complexity. However, the AIG-CVC partnership demonstrates a model where large, sophisticated players collaborate to navigate these challenges, aligning long-term capital with specialized investment expertise in a way that promises to generate durable value for both sides.