Latest news with #GuggenheimPartners
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
AM Best Downgrades Issuer Credit Rating of Puritan Life Insurance Company of America
OLDWICK, N.J., July 17, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AM Best has downgraded the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating (Long-Term ICR) to "bbb" (Good) from "bbb+" (Good) and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of B++ (Good) of Puritan Life Insurance Company of America (Puritan) (Scottsdale, AZ). The outlooks of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable. The ratings reflect Puritan's balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management (ERM). Puritan's Long-Term ICR downgrade reflects the revision of the balance sheet assessment to strong from very strong. The balance sheet is impacted by significant use of affiliated reinsurance with Heritage Life Insurance Company. This represents a high concentration in counterparty exposure, which lowers the overall quality of the balance sheet. Risk-adjusted capitalization, as measured by Best's Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), remains at the strongest assessment. Partially offsetting the elevated reinsurance exposure concentration is adequate liquidity and a good quality investment portfolio, which is mostly managed by Guggenheim Partners Investment Management (GPIM). Puritan's operating performance has seen some volatility in the last few years both from market factors as well as non-recurring items. However, core return metrics have remained in-line with both peers and the adequate assessment. Puritan's business profile remains limited with increasing geographic diversification offset by increasing product concentration. Strong distribution channels headlined by the Canvas platform continue to perform well. Puritan's ERM functions are appropriate, supported by a comprehensive risk management framework. This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Best's website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Best's Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Best's Credit Ratings. For information on the proper use of Best's Credit Ratings, Best's Performance Assessments, Best's Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Best's Ratings & Assessments. AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specializing in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit Copyright © 2025 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. View source version on Contacts Brent DeAngelis Financial Analyst +1 908 882 1730 Erik Miller Senior Director +1 908 882 2120 Christopher Sharkey Associate Director, Public Relations +1 908 882 2310 Al Slavin Senior Public Relations Specialist +1 908 882 2318 Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
CNBC
10-07-2025
- Business
- CNBC
How family offices are betting on the sports boom from fantasy apps to pickleball courts
A version of this article first appeared in CNBC's Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox. 2025 has been a banner year for sports mergers and acquisitions. In June, billionaire and Guggenheim Partners CEO Mark Walter bought a majority stake in the Los Angeles Lakers at a record $10 billion valuation. That same month, Apollo's Josh Harris and Blackstone's David Blitzer picked up a new Philadelphia WNBA team for $250 million through their titular sports and entertainment company. While sports team ownership changes get most of the buzz, ultra-rich individuals and their private investment firms are taking multiple tacks to profit from the sports industry. BNY Mellon's recent family office survey found that 33% of 282 respondents had invested in sports. BNY Mellon CIO Sinead Colton Grant told CNBC in June that family offices were increasingly investing in sports assets as an inflation hedge. Moreover, while larger family offices were more likely to have sizable equity stakes in teams, investors are also drawn to sports-related assets like merchandise and hospitality venues. "You've got media rights in addition to broader franchise interest. You've got real estate, like the broader complex around the stadium," she said. "There are many strands that are coming together to provide that, that quasi-inflation hedge." Investing in the picks and shovels of sports also comes with a lower barrier to entry. Betting on a strength-training app or buying a ski resort costs a fraction of what it takes to buy an equity stake in a multibillion-dollar sports team. While many family offices are agnostic when it comes to specific sports, the Chaifetz Group has built a pickleball portfolio. Launched by Richard Chaifetz, the founder of employee resource giant ComPsych, the Chicago-based family office not only owns pickleball team St. Louis Shock but also has invested in at least four pickleball-centric companies including Pickletile, a pickleball court construction company, and DUPR, which provides live ratings of pickleball matches. Billionaire Blitzer, the first person to own equity in all five major men's U.S. sports leagues, has invested in a slew of sports startups this year including Fantasy Life, a sports betting media firm, and Ballers, a chain of social clubs for racket sports. Blitzer told CNBC in 2023 that sports teams hold their value due to limited supply, while yielding related investment opportunities. "They're not making any more of them, and they're growing," he said at that year's CNBC x Boardroom Game Plan summit. "They're not just growing on their existing fan base. They're creating new fans for creating new revenue streams."
Wall Street Journal
05-07-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
The Shy Billionaire Who Built an Empire of Superteams
Over the course of Mark Walter's slow journey to build one of the most glittering portfolios in sports, doing a $10 billion deal to buy the Los Angeles Lakers turned out to be the easy part. Every other major acquisition—including the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chelsea FC, and the Cadillac Formula One team—had turned into protracted affairs that required the involvement of bankruptcy courts, suspicious rivals, or the British government. But when news first emerged last month that Walter, the CEO of Guggenheim Partners, was taking over the Lakers, it was already a fait accompli.
Los Angeles Times
02-07-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Dodgers DEI efforts target of federal civil rights complaint filed by conservative group
A legal group co-founded by Stephen Miller, the White House chief of staff and architect of the Trump Administration's harsh immigration policies, filed a federal civil rights complaint against the Dodgers earlier this week, accusing the team of 'engaging in unlawful discrimination under the guise of 'diversity, equity and inclusion.'' The lawsuit, filed Monday with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by America First Legal, was first reported Wednesday by The Athletic. The Dodgers declined comment about the complaint, which also named their ownership group, Guggenheim Partners and the Dodgers' professional groups for employees, such as the Black Action Network and Women's Opportunity Network. In a press release, America First claimed the Dodgers' actions violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin. The charges come less than two weeks after the team said they declined to allow federal immigration authorities to use Dodger Stadium parking lots as a staging area for immigration raids around Southern California. A day later the Dodgers committed $1 million to assist families impact by the immigration raids. American First claims the reigning World Series champions, who visited with President Trump at the White House earlier this season, have violated the law by sponsoring programs geared to women and people of color and by '[e]mbedding diversity, equity and inclusion strategies' into every aspect of the organization. The group also points to the biography of Mark Walter, the majority owner of the Dodgers and CEO of Guggenheim Partners, in which it calls Walter a 'social-justice advocate.' The Dodgers and Guggenheim Partners are just the latest organizations to find themselves in the crosshairs of American Legal over their diversity efforts. The group has pursued cases against IBM, the world's largest industrial research organization, and Johnson & Johnson, a multinational pharmaceutical company, among others. America First's complaint focused heavily on a page on the Dodgers website that defines the team's mission 'to create a culture where diverse voices and experiences are valued.' The site outlines efforts to recruit women and people of color, partner with community groups to support racial and social justice and promote heritage events for staff and fans. 'The DEI mission statement indicates that the Dodgers are incorporating DEI into its workplace in quantifiable ways with identifiable goals to achieve 'success,' which appears to entail engaging in unlawful discriminatory hiring, training, and recruitment,' America First stated in its complaint. Jared Rivera of Pico California, one of the groups that have called on the Dodgers to do more for immigrants, told the The Athletic the complaint amounts to retaliation. 'Stephen Miller's group is dressing up vengeance as legal action,' he said. 'Retaliating against the Dodgers for their compassion shows Miller is threatened when the team and its fans stand up for what is moral and right.'
Bloomberg
02-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Bloomberg Wealth: Anne Walsh
Guggenheim Partners Investment Management CIO Anne Walsh says the Federal Reserve may have room to lower interest rates but must be cautious not to appear as though it is "kowtowing" to political pressure from President Donald Trump. In this episode of Bloomberg Wealth with David Rubenstein, Walsh shares her concerns about the US deficit, emphasizing the need for greater fiscal discipline in Washington. She also discusses how fixed income investments can serve as a valuable tool for risk mitigation. This interview was recorded on June 9 in New York. (Source: Bloomberg)
