Samsung insurers sign deal with Blackstone to expand global alternative investment

Samsung Life and Samsung Fire & Marine are set to increase investment in overseas alternative assets, such as real estate and infrastructure amid bearish equities markets across the world.

The two firms under Samsung Financial Networks closed a deal with U.S. asset management giant Blackstone Inc. to assign $650 million for investment in alternative assets.

The deal is the largest since the launch of Samsung Financial Networks, a partnership among five Samsung financial firms, including Samsung Life, Samsung Fire & Marine, Samsung Card, Samsung Securities, and Samsung Asset Management.

Following the deal, the two firms will invest in the alternative fund managed by Blackstone. The alternative asset market is relatively safer compared with battered global stock and bond markets.

In recent years, Samsung¡¯s financial units have aggressively up offshore investment. Last year, Samsung Life purchased a 25-percent stake in Savills Investment Management, a real estate management arm of British property giant Savills. Samsung Fine & Marine bought a 19-percent stake in British reinsurer Canopius AG between 2019 and 2020.

Samsung Asset Management also closed an investment deal with Amplify ETFs for a 20-percent stake in the firm.

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