MetLife to buy Hong Kong tycoon Richard Li’s PineBridge in asset management push

MetLife agreed to buy PineBridge Investments’ assets outside China from Hong Kong billionaire Richard Li’s Pacific Century Group as part of the US insurer’s push to grow in asset management.

MetLife Investment Management, the institutional asset manager of the New York-based insurance company, will pay US$800 million for PineBridge, which manages about US$100 billion in assets, according to a statement on Monday that confirmed an earlier Bloomberg News report. MetLife will also pay US$200 million subject to achieving certain financial goals in 2025, and an additional US$200 million subject to a multi-year earnout.

The deal, which is expected to close in 2025, excludes PineBridge’s private equity funds and its China joint venture with Huatai Securities, which managed more than US$70 billion as of the end of June.

Pacific Century has retained the mainland China business and will focus developing Huatai-PineBridge and its private funds assets, according to a spokesperson for the holding company. The partnership with Huatai and Suzhou New District Hi-Tech Industrial aims to cater to the country’s growing demand for investment products.

MetLife Investment, which focuses on asset classes including fixed income, private credit and real estate, will have more than US$700 billion under management after the deal is completed. The acquisition will boost its global footprint as more than half of the client assets being acquired from Pinebridge are held by investors outside the US and about one third are in Asia.

“The acquisition of PineBridge Investments furthers our ambition to accelerate growth in asset management,” MetLife president Michel Khalaf said. “MetLife Investment Management is on a good path to grow its business organically, supplemented by targeted, complementary inorganic growth.”