Dubbed "by far the most compelling entry" by this year's judges, AllianceBernstein's private debt platform growth takes 2024's Insurance Asset Risk Private Debt Manager of the Year award.

The judges also highlighted the asset manager's depth of product offering and insurance client partnerships, as well as its "impressive" scale. In 2013, AllianceBernstein's private debt assets under management were $9bn, a figure it increased over the course of the next decade to $58bn. The manager has linked the expansion of its private debt platform directly to its ability to partner with insurance companies and provide differentiated solutions that fit their risk and return objectives.

AllianceBernstein has insurer capital at the fundamental core of its platform: out of the last five fundraisings across its commercial real estate debt strategies dating back to 2013, its insurance clients have comprised at least 60% of investor commitments. And, in its latest US commercial real estate debt strategy fundraising, concluded in the second quarter of 2022, 80% of the $1.3bn in total investor commitments was from insurers, most based in Europe.

And in addition to organic growth, the manager has also bought peers to expand its platform. In July 2022, AllianceBernstein acquired CarVal Investors, a leading global private debt and credit investment manager with approximately $16bn in assets under management primarily focused on opportunistic and distressed credit, renewable energy infrastructure, specialty finance and transport. The acquisition represented an important step forward in AllianceBernstein's ongoing goal to better serve its insurance partners by building and growing a world-class private debt business.