MetLife Investment Management (MIM), the institutional asset management arm of MetLife, has launched its second private equity fund for institutional clients, securing nearly $1.2bn in commitments for a new MIM-managed fund-of-funds.
Named MetLife Investment Private Equity Partners II, the fund has acquired a portfolio valued at around $860m in private equity and equity co-investment interests. This acquisition includes funded and unfunded commitments totalling $975m from MetLife affiliates, facilitated through a managed secondary sale anchored by funds managed by Lexington Partners.
MetLife chief financial officer and MetLife Investment Management head John McCallion said: “MIM continues to expand its client solutions with this new fund, which leverages our deep private equity investment capabilities and further demonstrates our leadership in investing in private markets.
“The strong long-term performance of our private equity investments drove the creation of this differentiated investment solution.”
MIM has syndicated a portion of the transaction to other institutional clients outside of MetLife, intending to allocate approximately $250m to new private equity opportunities. The portfolio consists of nearly 50 diversified global private equity and equity co-investments.
This initiative follows strong performance from MetLife’s general account private equity portfolio, which held assets totalling $14.3bn as of 31 March 2024. Over the period from 2010 to 2023, MIM’s private equity team deployed over $20bn in alternative investments. Evercore served as MIM’s advisor for this transaction.
Lexington Partners partner and president Wil Warren said: “We are thrilled to partner with MIM on this innovative transaction.
“MIM Private Equity Partners II represents a high-quality, diversified portfolio which we believe stands out in today’s secondary market, and we look forward to working with MIM on this investment going forward.”
