Ancient Financial, a newly formed reinsurance platform backed by a New York hedge fund veteran, has struck its first deal – agreeing to acquire F&G Life Re Ltd. from F&G Annuities & Life.
The Bermuda entity will be renamed Ancient Re upon closing on March 1, 2026.
F&G will enter a forward-flow reinsurance arrangement with Ancient Re for multi-year guaranteed annuity new business. Ancient Financial said the acquisition would serve as the foundation of its reinsurance and asset management platform.
F&G disclosed in its Q4 2025 earnings that it expects approximately $300 million in net proceeds. The company had recaptured roughly $900 million, or one-third, of F&G Life Re's statutory liabilities, ceding about $600 million to a third-party reinsurer. The remaining in-force block of approximately $1.9 billion in AUM transfers to Ancient Re at closing.
F&G, majority-owned by Fidelity National Financial (NYSE: FNF), reported record AUM of $73 billion at year-end 2025 – up 12%, CEO Chris Blunt disclosed. F&G Life Re had become a runoff block, the company said.
The deal comes as the US annuity market shatters records. LIMRA data showed sales reached $434.1 billion in 2024, up 13% – a third consecutive high. That momentum carried into 2025, with LIMRA reporting third-quarter sales topped $121.2 billion.
Ancient Financial enters a market flush with private capital. Conning has tracked over two dozen liability origination platforms formed since 2014.
Major Bermuda-based competitors include Apollo-backed Athene, KKR's Global Atlantic, and Prismic Life, a Prudential Financial and Warburg Pincus venture that closed a $1.3 billion capital raise in late 2025. AM Best noted PE-owned insurers now represent nearly 10% of the industry's admitted assets.
With approximately $1.9 billion in AUM, Ancient Financial is a fraction of Athene's $192 billion in Bermuda reinsurance support as of 2024.
The company describes itself as independent, not governed by an existing insurer or asset manager. It is backed by equity commitments from Ancient Management LP, a New York firm founded in 2020 by Alexander Klabin, alongside family offices and institutional investors.
Klabin, who will chair Ancient Financial, co-founded hedge fund Senator Investment Group, which managed roughly $10 billion at its peak. He departed in early 2020, Reuters reported.
Ancient Re CEO Erich Schram was a founding partner of Blackstone Insurance Solutions and previously CIO of Guggenheim Life and Annuity from 2013 to 2018, the company's website shows. Blackstone retains asset management for F&G Life Re's in-force book, while Ancient Re manages assets under the new flow treaty.
"This acquisition serves as the cornerstone of our platform," Schram said. Blunt called it an opportunity to "monetize an operation no longer needed to support our reinsurance strategy."
