Talcott Financial Group launched West Grove Re, a Bermuda-domiciled reinsurance sidecar created with Goldman Sachs to support growth across Talcott’s insurance and reinsurance platform.
West Grove Re closed about $1 bn in capital, including equity commitments from Talcott, Goldman Sachs Asset & Wealth Management and its clients, plus a credit facility.
The structure gives Talcott another source of capital for annuity risk and gives Goldman a larger role in insurance-linked private assets.
Talcott provides risk solutions across the retirement and insurance market. The company said Sixth Street and Talcott’s open-architecture asset management model helped set up the sidecar, along with a partnership approach built around outside capital and specialist investment managers.
West Grove Re will take part in a quota share of certain US annuities sourced by Talcott. The structure aims to expand Talcott’s capacity to deliver scalable and capital-efficient solutions across a broad set of liabilities.
The sidecar will also use Talcott’s underwriting standards, risk management framework and insurance expertise. Talcott will provide support services across actuarial, finance, compliance and risk functions.
Goldman Sachs AWM will act as a strategic partner to West Grove Re and manage private asset strategies for the vehicle. Other third-party investment managers are expected to manage the rest of West Grove Re’s assets.
Imran Siddiqui, CEO of Talcott, said West Grove Re marks another step in the company’s growth strategy. He said the sidecar broadens Talcott’s access to liabilities with varied costs of capital while supporting the company’s plan to scale. According to Siddiqui, the Goldman partnership further validates the business Talcott has built since Sixth Street acquired it in 2021.
Talcott is pairing its insurance expertise with Goldman’s access to client capital and private asset origination. The goal, he said, is to better support partners and the wider insurance market as demand for retirement risk solutions keeps rising.
Imran Siddiqui, CEO of Talcott
Vivek Bantwal, global co-head of private credit at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, said Goldman will invest alongside Talcott and its clients in the insurance market solution. He said Goldman’s private credit business brings credit selection, access to sourcing and origination through its investment bank, and markets and risk management experience.
The deal adds to the growing use of sidecars in life and annuity reinsurance. Insurers use these vehicles to share liabilities with third-party capital, manage balance sheet pressure and expand capacity without relying only on traditional reinsurance structures. For asset managers, the appeal sits in long-duration liabilities, private credit deployment and closer ties to retirement capital.
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Kennedys Law and Kirkland & Ellis advised Talcott as legal counsel. Goldman Sachs Global Banking and Markets advised Goldman Sachs as financial advisor. Debevoise & Plimpton and Appleby Bermuda acted as Goldman Sachs’ legal advisors.
