Entrepreneurial fundsters looking for an exit strategy or for new long-term backers may want to knock on the doors of MetLife or Prudential.

"Insurers are circling asset managers for deals," the Wall Street Journal reports. Pru and MetLife are both hungry for such acquisitions, according to the paper, which also echoes previous reports that British insurer Legal & General is looking to buy and bolt on U.S. asset managers.

Pru already has a $1-trillion asset management arm, PGIM, that has a retail and advisor-sold business called PGIM Investments.

The WSJ article comes after the close last week of Nippon Life Insurance Company's purchase of a 24.75 percent stake in TCW. The paper, citing unnamed sources, reports that MetLife and Munich Re (a German insurer) were competing bidders for a TCW stake.

Aaron Meder, CEO of Legal & General Investment Management America, says his firm hasn't made any offers yet but confirms to the WSJ that the U.S. market is "a fantastic opportunity to diversify the business and expand." Steven Goulert, executive vice president and chief investment officer of MetLife, tells the paper that MetLife's asset management arm "will continue to look at opportunities to acquire other asset management businesses."

Ben Phillips, principal at Deloitte's Casey Quirk also weighed in for the article. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


Stay ahead of the news ... Sign up for our email alerts now
CLICK HERE