The investment arm of MetLife on Monday said it launched a $1.2 billion fund that boosts the amount of private capital it manages for institutional clients. The new fund, MetLife Investment Private Equity Partners II, purchased a portfolio of approximately $860 million of private equity and equity co-investment interests with funded and unfunded commitments totaling $975 million from MetLife affiliates as part of a managed secondary sale transaction anchored by funds managed by Lexington Partners L.P., which served as lead investor.
“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,” John McCallion, MetLife’s chief financial officer and head of MetLife Investment Management, said. “The strong long-term performance of our private equity investments drove the creation of this differentiated investment solution.”
MIM syndicated a portion of the transaction to other unaffiliated institutional clients. MIM intends to deploy approximately $250 million on behalf of the fund on new private equity opportunities.
The portfolio of assets acquired by the fund consists of nearly 50 private equity and equity co-investments diversified globally. The sale follows strong returns for the MetLife general account’s private equity portfolio, which held $14.3 billion in private equity assets as of March 31, 2024.
“We are thrilled to partner with MIM on this innovative transaction,” Wil Warren, partner and president of Lexington Partners, said. “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.”
MIM’s private equity team has deployed over $20 billion of alternative investments between 2010 and 2023. Evercore served as adviser to MIM for this transaction.
