MetLife Investment Management, an institutional asset management business based in Whippany, announced Aug. 25 that it originated a record $9.2 billion in private placement debt and private structured credit during the first half of 2022.  

The total, recorded across 137 transactions, included $2.3 billion originated on behalf of unaffiliated institutional clients.  

As of June 30, the company’s private placement assets under management totaled $90.5 billion. 

“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,” Nancy Mueller Handal, head of Private Fixed Income & Alternatives at MIM, said in a statement. “We will utilize our established platform to continue to support issuers and our clients over an evolving economic landscape.” 

In the first half of the year, MIM originated: 

• $5.3 billion in corporate private placements, 
• $2.6 billion in infrastructure private placement debt, 
• $1.3 billion in private structured credit transactions, and  
• added 53 new credits to the portfolio. 

The accounts spanned a range of industries globally, with REITs, financials, transportation, industrials and food and beverage as the leading sectors. 

MIM said more than 40% of the issuers were based outside the U.S. 

Sustainability played a large role in the transactions, with approximately $500 million in green bonds and $100 million in sustainability-linked notes purchased. 

In that regard, MIM noted it was the sole lender in a financing to support the decommissioning of two coal-fired power plants in New Jersey. 

Pandemic effects 

The company said its infrastructure private placement origination in the first half of 2022 increased by over 70% compared with the same period in 2021. MIM attributed this gain to the market’s continued rebound from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The top three infrastructure projects were: 

• $740 million in transportation-related projects and assets
• $300 million in social housing
• $250 million in communications projects  

MIM added that the increase to U.K. and European issuers — nearly $1.4 billion — “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.” 

The company also attributed the numbers to “pandemic-related pent-up demand for refinancings and new debt.”