Cordillera Holdings, a holding company focused on investing in the insurance and reinsurance sector, has announced plans to acquire Sunset Life Insurance Company of America.
Cordillera was founded in 2020 with initial capital from alternative investment manager Investcorp and its affiliates, and it is Investcorp that will provide the initial capital for the acquisition and future growth of the Sunset Life platform.
Founded in 1937, Sunset Life was formerly a subsidiary of Kansas City Life Insurance Company.
In December 2020, Sunset Life reinsured 100% of its then existing insurance business to Kansas City Life, who will provide all ongoing administration for such business.
Sunset Life was acquired via Cordillera subsidiary Bona Holdings and veteran annuities industry executive Nathan Gemmiti has been appointed as the company’s new Chief Executive Officer.
Gemmiti joins from Knighthead Annuity and Life Insurance Company where he served as Co-Founder, Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel.
Previously, he served as an Operating Partner at Apollo Global Management, where he worked on several financial services initiatives, including the initial launch and growth of Athene.
Under Gemmiti’s new leadership, the business will focus on being a long-term and stable provider of retirement-oriented fixed annuity products.
As part of the transaction, Cordillera also announced that the Sunset Life will outsource its investment management to Investcorp Insurance Solutions (IIS), Investcorp’s newly formed line of business that will focus on providing investment management services to insurers.
“Through my near 20 years of experience in the life and annuity insurance market, I have witnessed the evolution of the industry, and today more than ever the opportunity exists to deliver differentiated savings and retirement income products to customers,” said Gemmiti.
“We believe that a partnership with Investcorp brings a key competitive advantage via access to its long-dated experience and successful track record across a range of investment strategies,” he continued. “This partnership is critical to our ability to design and build products that protect and manage the lifecycle of our customers’ wealth, savings and retirement.”
Rishi Kapoor, Co-CEO of Investcorp, added: “This marks an exciting milestone following the launch of our insurance solutions business last month. We look forward to leveraging our experience in investment management in partnership with Nate and team.”
