Vida Capital acquires longevity life settlement asset manager Avmont

Vida Capital, Inc., the alternative investment manager with a life settlement and insurance-linked securities (ILS) focus, has added to its life and longevity asset management scope, with the acquisition of specialist Avmont, LLC.

Vida Capital is of course a joint-venture partner in insurance-linked securities (ILS) and collateralised reinsurance asset manager Merion Square Capital LLC.

But with Vida having roughly $4.4 billion of assets under management, life settlements and also longevity linked assets play a much larger role for the firm than the ILS and reinsurance investments our readers are perhaps more familiar with.

Working alongside its  private equity backers Reverence Capital Partners and RedBird Capital Partners, Vida Capital said it was acquiring leading longevity risk-based asset manager and advisor Avmont, in order to enhance the “capabilities within its life settlement platform and further strengthen its leadership position in the space.”

William Tice, President & Chief Investment Officer of Vida Capital Management, commented on the news, “We are very excited about this opportunity to significantly enhance our capabilities in the life settlement space by acquiring Avmont, a pioneer in the field.

“We warmly welcome the Avmont team, who bring extensive analytical capabilities and a deep understanding of life settlements to Vida, complementing our robust asset management infrastructure and unique expertise underwriting longevity risk. Together we look forward to continue growing Vida’s leading life settlements and longevity-risk assets platform and offering our clients compelling risk-adjusted and uncorrelated returns.”

The acquisition will see key Avmont senior employees joining Vida, including Chief Investment Officer William Ketterer and Director of Operations Brian Barclay.

Ketterer takes on the role of Managing Director of Portfolio Management at Vida Capital, while Barclay has been named Managing Director, COO for Vida specialist life focused subsidiary Magna Life Settlements.

Within the transaction, Vida has also acquired Avmont’s intellectual property and some client and sub-advisory relationships.

William Ketterer stated, “Joining forces with the Vida team, whose work we know and respect, is a tremendous opportunity for all of us at Avmont. As a true pioneer in life settlements, the Avmont team has built unique capabilities and competences, especially around analytics and procedures, which we can now apply to drive superior returns across Vida’s substantial platform. I thank Bill, Jeff Serra and the team at Vida for the warm welcome and look forward to moving forward with our shared vision for originating and managing non-correlated investment strategies.”