Acquisition of Merion Square’s JV partner Vida Capital completes

The acquisition of Vida Capital, Inc., the alternative investment manager and joint-venture partner in insurance-linked securities (ILS) asset manager Merion Square Capital LLC, has now been completed.

Vida Capital, an alternative asset manager focused on non-correlating investment classes including life settlements and now property and casualty reinsurance through its joint-venture with Merion Square, has been acquired by RedBird Capital Partners and Reverence Capital Partners.

It’s an investment designed to position Vida for further growth, with the original leadership co-investing in the deal and the enlarged platform designed to take the asset manager forwards.

Which can only bode well for the Merion Square ILS investment team, which came about after Vida Capital partnered with ILS and collateralized reinsurance specialists Rewire Holdings LLC, to build a diversifying non-correlated platform focused on insurance-linked securities (ILS).

Vida already had its specialism in life insurance-linked securities (ILS) through longevity linked assets, which we covered before when the firm announced a capital raise for a longevity focused life settlements investment strategy.

The new ILS joint-venture platform is called Merion Square Capital LLC, which was launched in December 2018 as a new insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund manager with $150 million of initial capital commitments.

Confirming the completion of the acquisition, the parties said that Vida’s President and CEO Jeff Serra, as well as management team members, invested alongside RedBird and Reverence in the deal, which received overwhelming support from the investors in Vida’s various funds.

Jeff Serra, Vida CEO and Founder commented, “Our management team and employees are extremely pleased to have reached the closing of this transaction. We have been looking forward to this day and to working with our new partners at RedBird and Reverence to continue our growth and success as an alternative asset manager. Our goal will be to harness the experience and guidance that both firms will provide to us as we look to expand our platform while retaining our core focus on non-correlated, income producing alternative assets.”

“We are excited to be backing a leader in the life settlement space. We believe the platform is well suited to capitalize on the growth of the industry given the team’s underwriting expertise and compelling track record. We look forward to growing the company together with RedBird and the Vida management team and building a successful partnership that benefits all parties,” added Milton Berlinski, Managing Partner of Reverence Capital Partners.

“We are very pleased to close this investment in partnership with the Vida team and my former Goldman Sachs partners at Reverence,” Gerry Cardinale, Managing Partner of RedBird Capital Partners also said. “Jeff and his senior leadership team are world class and we look forward to supporting them in continuing to grow the company and expand into other non-correlated asset classes.”

All necessary regulatory approvals were received and the completion of this transaction bodes well for further life settlements market growth for Vida, as well as enhanced joint-venture support for Merion Square as it grows out its ILS and reinsurance linked investment platform.

The new injection of capital, backing and demonstration of confidence in Vida will benefit the Merion Square ILS team, affording them broader access to institutional markets and a larger platform for marketing their reinsurance linked strategies.