The insurance arm and investment management firm of global tech giant Samsung will pour US$500 million to infrastructure and aviation debt originated by French bank Natixis.
Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung Asset Management have entered into an agreement to co-invest the amount over the next five years into loans originated globally by Natixis, the Asia Asset Management reported.
The report said Samsung Life, which is the largest life insurer in South Korea, will invest on its own behalf while Samsung Asset Management will place the loans among other Korean investors.
According to the report, Natixis will introduce loans backed by infrastructure and aviation during the investment period.
The bank will retain a portion of each transaction on its balance sheet and will also provide servicing and administration of all assets in the portfolio.
Alternative asset classes, particularly infrastructure and aviation debt, have gained increasing interest from Asia-Pacific institutional investors due to the stability and long-term yield that they offer, according to Bruno Le Saint, the regional head of structured and asset finance at Natixis.
“This is reflected by this agreement, in which we’re partnering with two [of] Asia’s major investors, while also making our investment solutions available to a broad base of institutional investors in Korea,” the Asia Asset Management quoted him as saying.
