the chief executive of the Lifeline Program, an Atlanta-based provider, said his company is negotiating with a U.K.-based hedge fund to invest a “substantial” amount in life settlements.
William Scott Page, chief executive of Lifeline, said a confidentiality agreement with the hedge fund prevents him from naming it. Page said this will be the fund’s first foray into the life settlements market. He expects to begin buying policies for the fund in the first quarter.
Page said he believes the fund intends to buy the policies with the intention of holding them until maturity or until insureds die and the death benefits are paid. But he said that Lifeline is aggregating the policies with the option to sell them for the hedge fund.
The company said in a statement that despite continued worldwide financial market turmoil, interest in life insurance settlements as an institutional investment is growing in the U.K.
“I think people are looking for non-correlated assets,” Page said. “I think we’re going to see capital come back into the industry.”