MetLife Investment Management (MIM), the institutional asset management business of MetLife, originated $9.2 billion in private placement debt and private structured credit for the first half of 2022 across 137 transactions. This was a record for MIM and included $2.3 billion of investments originated on behalf of unaffiliated institutional clients. MIM’s total private placement assets under management stood at $90.5 billion as of June 30, 2022.

Corporate private placement origination in the first half of 2022 extended across a wide range of industries and geographies and encompassed a variety of financing structures.

• Leading industry sectors included REITs, financials, transportation, industrials and food & beverage.

• Over 40% of corporate private placement origination was from issuers based outside of the U.S., including over $1.9 billion of financing provided to U.K. and European issuers.

• Over $600 million of investment in credit tenant leases (CTL) as MIM continued to see strong relative value offered by this financing structure.

• Approximately $500 million in green bonds and $100 million in sustainability-linked notes, the latter tied to carbon emissions reduction, were purchased across 13 transactions issued by both U.S. and Europe-based issuers.

MIM’s infrastructure private placement origination in the first half of 2022 increased by over 70% in transaction value compared to the same period in the prior year as the market continued to rebound from the lingering effects of the global pandemic.

• Infrastructure origination was well diversified across end markets led by nearly $740 million of investment in transportation-related projects and assets. Social housing and communications projects rounded out the top three sectors of investment, representing approximately $300 and $250 million in financing, respectively.

• Nearly $1.4 billion to U.K. and European issuers, which represented more than 50% of infrastructure production in the first half of 2022, significantly higher than in the first half of each of the last five years. We believe the relative increase in infrastructure activity in these markets was driven by pandemic-related pent-up demand for refinancings and new debt. European investment included a direct financing for an Austrian-based rail operator, with proceeds of the transaction to primarily finance new electric rail vehicles to extend the operator’s network of night trains, which offer an environmentally-friendly alternative to air travel in Europe.

• MIM was also the sole lender in a financing to support the decommissioning of two coal-fired power plants in New Jersey. The transaction reinforced MIM’s long-term commitment to energy transition initiatives that drive environmental sustainability and decarbonization.

• Private structured credit’s production volume for the first half of 2022 increased by more than 50% as compared to the same period in 2021. Over 90% of this volume was executed directly with issuers versus through a syndicated channel.

Nancy Mueller Handal, head of Private Fixed Income & Alternatives at MIM, said: “MIM’s record production in the first half of 2022 is a testament to our team’s origination and structuring capabilities and global network of relationships. We will utilize our established platform to continue to support issuers and our clients over an evolving economic landscape.”

MetLife Investment Management, the institutional asset management business of MetLife, Inc., is a global public fixed income, private capital and real estate investment manager providing tailored investment solutions to institutional investors worldwide. MetLife Investment Management provides public and private pension plans, insurance companies, endowments, funds and other institutional clients with a range of bespoke investment and financing solutions that seek to meet a range of long-term investment objectives and risk-adjusted returns over time. MetLife Investment Management has over 150 years of investment experience and, as of June 30, 2022, had $590.9 billion in total assets under management.