MetLife Investment Management, the institutional asset management business of MetLife, has formed a new $1.2bn private equity fund of funds, significantly boosting the amount of private capital the insurer manages for outside investors.

The new fund, MetLife Investment Private Equity Partners II, purchased a portfolio of approximately $860m of private equity and equity co-investment interests with funded and unfunded commitments totalling $975m from MetLife affiliates as part of a managed secondary sale transaction anchored by funds managed by Lexington Partners, which served as lead investor.

MIM syndicated a portion of the transaction to other unaffiliated institutional clients and intends to deploy approximately $250m on behalf of the fund on new private equity opportunities.

The portfolio of assets acquired by the fund consists of nearly 50 private equity and equity co-investments diversified globally.

According to a press statement, the sale follows strong returns for the MetLife general account’s private equity portfolio, which held $14.3bn in private equity assets as of 31 March, 2024.

MIM’s private equity team has deployed over $20.0bn of alternative investments between 2010 and 2023. Evercore served as advisor to MIM for this transaction.