“Traditionally, investing assets on behalf of insurance companies was a relatively straightforward matter of matching assets and liabilities. Now, not only are insurers looking to invest in higher-yielding private asset assets, it also makes sense for them to invest more in equity or equity-like structures,” Zhu said, pointing to a recent investment in a “sidecar” by Reinsurance Group of America as an example of how insurers are diversifying across the balance sheet.