MetLife to buy fund manager

NEW YORK: MetLife Inc, the largest US life insurer, has agreed to buy Logan Circle Partners from Fortress Investment Group LLC, adding a fixed-income manager that oversees more than $33 billion.

“The insurer will pay about $250 million in cash in the deal, which is expected to be completed this quarter,’’ New York-based MetLife said in a statement.

MetLife CEO Steve Kandarian has been reshaping the company, pushing into asset management to increase fee income while working to exit capital-intensive businesses like retail annuities.

The deal for Logan Circle will expand to more than $140 billion the sum that MetLife oversees for third parties.

“This transaction is directly aligned with our enterprise strategy to deliver value by focusing on businesses with strong riskadjusted internal rates of returns, low capital intensity and sustainable cash flows,” Kandarian said in the statement. “Logan Circle Partners will bring a talented team with a track record of outperformance.”

Fortress is reshaping its portfolio ahead of its planned sale to Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp, which is expected to be completed by year-end.

Fortress acquired Logan Circle in April 2010 for $19 million, gaining $11.4 billion in assets under management. The unit generated losses each year until 2016, when it posted $4 million in pretax distributable earnings, or 1.1% of Fortress’s total profit.

Steven Goulart, MetLife’s chief investment officer, said the deal would add about 80 employees and give the asset manager better reach in the consultant and subadvisory distribution channels.

MetLife’s investment unit has “been focused really on private asset categories,” he said in a phone interview on Friday. “And we’ve been working hard to try and figure out the right way to get into the more public fixed-income strategies.”

Logan Circle, led by CEO Jude Driscoll, invests in fixed-income assets across a range of maturity and risk, including short, intermediate and long duration; core and core-plus; investment-grade credit; highyield; and emerging-market debt.

MetLife said the deal wouldn’t impact its plan to repurchase $3 billion of stock by the end of this year.