On 13 October, Lee Robinson was a keynote speaker at Jim Grant’s annual conference in New York, presenting “The Big Short II? Red Flags in Life Insurers”.
Lee’s introduction summed up how he invests: “I’m a risk-reward guy. Every now and again, you get a chance to be short in capped-liability situations. Therein lies the reward. That time is now.”
Private-capital-owned US life insurers report far more capital than they hold in substance, the private credit on their balance sheets is opaque and illiquid, and AI capex is running well ahead of revenue. To prepare for the Big Short II Altana has launched its Downside Protector Fund expressing its view through CDS and options, with losses capped at a defined annual premium budget and an asymmetric payoff if the risk reprice
The conference also heard from Todd Combs, Dan Ivascyn of Pimco and the forensic accountant Tom Gober, who has tracked the practices of PE-owned life insurers for years. Their sessions are covered in the full issue of Grant’s.