H.I.G. Capital has made a double senior hire as it builds out a dedicated global insurance platform, appointing Clark Jeffries (pictured, left) as managing director and global head of insurance, and Gary Droscoski (pictured, right) as managing director in its Capital Formation Group.
The Miami-headquartered alternative investment firm, which manages about $74 billion in capital across private equity, credit, real assets and infrastructure, has identified insurance as a core growth channel for its middle-market origination engine.
H.I.G. is developing a dedicated insurance vertical aimed at designing strategies specifically aligned to insurance company balance sheets and capital regimes. The platform is intended to use the firm’s private credit, private equity, and real assets capabilities to originate and structure investments from a liability-driven perspective, offering what it describes as tailored, capital-efficient solutions for insurers.
Jeffries will lead sourcing, transaction execution, and ongoing management of H.I.G.’s strategic investments in the insurance sector, as well as the development of products designed for insurance investors. He joins with nearly two decades of experience across insurance and financial institutions, including as chief investment officer of Bermuda-based Somerset Reinsurance Limited, a life and annuity reinsurer focused on asset-intensive business, and as a managing director in Bank of America’s financial institutions group.
Droscoski will focus on deepening H.I.G.’s relationships with insurance investors and supporting capital formation across the firm. He will work with investment teams to align strategies with insurers’ investment, accounting, and regulatory capital requirements. His background spans more than 25 years in institutional sales and business development, with senior roles at PGIM Private Alternatives and New York Life Investments, and as managing director and head of business development, North America, at GAM Investments.
Brian Schwartz, co-president of H.I.G., framed the hires as part of a broader effort to capture rising demand from the insurance channel for specialist private-market investments.
“We see significant opportunity to expand our investment capabilities in the middle market where increasing complexity and demand for specialized capabilities are creating attractive investment opportunities for the insurance channel,” he said. “Insurance capital is increasingly aligned with long-duration, asset-based strategies where H.I.G. has strong expertise, and this initiative enhances our ability to originate and scale investments in these areas.”
Insurers have become a key source of capital for alternative managers, particularly in private credit and real assets, as carriers look to match long-dated liabilities with higher-yielding, often less liquid assets. That shift has accelerated amid pressure on traditional fixed-income returns and growing competition in core infrastructure and real estate.
Jordan Peer Griffin, executive managing director and head of H.I.G.’s Capital Formation Group, said insurance companies are “an important and growing segment of the institutional investor landscape” and that the firm is expanding its capabilities to serve this market. She emphasized a focus on long-term partnerships and on delivering strategies tailored to insurers’ investment and capital needs.
Jeffries said H.I.G.’s footprint across the middle market provides a foundation for building out insurance-specific offerings.
“H.I.G. has built a strong platform across private credit, private equity, and real assets, with a differentiated ability to originate in the middle market,” he said. “I am excited to join the firm at a time when insurance investors are seeking scaled access to high-quality opportunities, and to help further develop strategies aligned with their investment objectives.”
H.I.G.’s build-out is another sign of intensifying competition among alternative managers for a larger share of insurance capital. That competition now extends beyond commingled funds to separately managed accounts, co-investments, and, in some cases, direct investments into insurance and reinsurance platforms.
As capital regimes evolve and private assets take a larger share of insurer portfolios, managers’ ability to structure truly liability-aware, capital-efficient solutions is likely to be a key differentiator.
