Talcott Financial Group has established West Grove Re, Ltd., a Bermuda-domiciled reinsurance sidecar, in partnership with Goldman Sachs. West Grove Re has closed an approximately $1bn capital raise, including both equity commitments from Talcott, Goldman Sachs Asset & Wealth Management (AWM) and its clients, and a credit facility.
West Grove Re was established to support the accelerated growth of Talcott’s insurance and reinsurance platform. The sidecar will participate in a quota share of certain Talcott-sourced US annuities in a structure designed to further enhance Talcott’s ability to deliver scalable, capital-efficient solutions to its stakeholders across a wide set of liabilities.
Additionally, Talcott will provide the sidecar support services across a range of functions, including actuarial, finance, compliance, and risk.
Goldman Sachs AWM will serve as a strategic partner to West Grove Re by acting as investment manager for private asset strategies. Other third-party investment managers are expected to manage the remainder of West Grove Re’s assets.
“Establishing West Grove Re is another important step in Talcott’s growth strategy, broadening our access to liabilities with varied costs of capital, while staying true to the strength of our platform as we continue to scale,” said Imran Siddiqui, Chief Executive Officer of Talcott.
“Partnering with Goldman Sachs further validates the business we have been building since Sixth Street’s acquisition in 2021. By pairing our deep insurance expertise with Goldman’s access to client capital and private asset origination franchise, we are enhancing our ability to support the evolving needs of our partners and the broader insurance market.”
“We are excited to invest alongside Talcott and our clients in this solution for the insurance marketplace. Our private credit business will bring a rigorous credit selection process, access to a deep sourcing and origination funnel through our investment bank, and our expertise in markets and risk management to this partnership,” added Vivek Bantwal, Global Co-Head of Private Credit at Goldman Sachs Alternatives.
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Kennedys Law, and Kirkland & Ellis acted as legal advisors to Talcott. Goldman Sachs was advised by Goldman Sachs Global Banking and Markets as financial advisor and Debevoise & Plimpton and Appleby (Bermuda) acted as legal advisors.
