The Ledger

PE-linked insurers now run a four-cylinder capacity engine: asset-intensive reinsurance lowers required capital; tax positioning lifts retained earnings; evolving solvency rules reshape charges on private assets; and short-horizon balance sheet funding via funding agreements and FHLB advances converts claims-paying strength into deployable cash. Together these steps explain the post-2019 surge in insurer deployable capital.

Credit has migrated from banks to private platforms, and the centre of gravity has moved with it. Insurers, through asset-intensive reinsurance, are releasing capital and shaping who is financed, on what terms, and when liquidity turns. The same channel that supplies credit in calm periods can amplify stress when cushions shrink. We map how this transmission affects pricing, liquidity, funding terms, and exits across markets.

How risk migrated from bank marks to insurance clocks In the early 2000s, the head table in private real estate sat largely inside the...