Ibexis Life Hopes to Launch Its First Product by June 30

What You Need to Know

Nathan Gemmiti, an Athene veteran, is the Ibexis Life CEO.
A partnership controlled by Investcorp affiliates brought the new insurer to life quickly by acquiring Sunset Life Insurance.
Ibexis Life has licenses to write insurance in 43 states and the District of Columbia.

An insurer backed by Investcorp is moving ahead with efforts to enter the U.S. fixed annuity market.

The new annuity market player, Ibexis Life & Annuity Insurance Co., said Monday that it intends to introduce a contract by June 30.

The company is emphasizing that its first products will be fixed.

Ibexis Life “offers fixed annuities to help clients protect their financial future and prepare for retirement,” the company said in a description of its business. “Our fixed annuities can help individuals accumulate interest without risk of losing principal and provide guaranteed income during retirement.”

The company’s website shows proposed marketing information for the MYGA Plus annuity contract. The product will be a multi-year guaranteed annuity contract that comes with a choice of a three-year, five-year or seven-year rate guarantees, according to the website.

Product and feature availability might vary by state and by broker-dealer.

What It Means

Low interest rates and new accounting rules may be making some large, publicly traded insurers leery of offering annuities with rich guarantees, but other players still like the idea of selling those kinds of products.

The History

A partnership backed by Investcorp accelerated the creation of Ibexis Life in November 2021, by acquiring an existing life insurance company, Sunset Life Insurance of America, from Kansas City Life Insurance Co. Sunset Life was founded in 1937.

Ibexis Life has an A- rating from AM Best and licenses to issue insurance in 43 states and the District of Columbia.

Ibexis Life noted in the release about its launch that AM Best gave it a high rating partly because of its own strong balance sheet, and partly because of capital commitments from Investcorp, an investment firm with about $40 billion in assets under management.

Nate Gemmiti, Ibexis Life’s CEO, helped Apollo Global Management start and build Athene.

Later, he was the chief operating officer of Knighthead Annuity & Life Assurance Co. in the Cayman Islands and the founding chairman of the Cayman International Reinsurance Companies Association.