Business
AIG to partner with specialty insurer Convex and asset manager Onex in $5B deal
- AIG is investing nearly $5 billion in specialty insurer Convex Group and asset manager Onex Corporation and its investment funds, a move insiders say reflects CEO Peter Zaffino’s drive to transform the legacy insurer into a more agile, capital-aligned powerhouse.
AIG is set to make a multibillion-dollar investment in the specialty insurer Convex Group and asset manager Onex Corporation. The multi-pronged deal remains under regulatory review and is expected to close in the first half of 2026. The first stage of the deal includes a $3 billion commitment followed by an additional $2 billion investment to be deployed over the next three years. Sources close to the deal told Fortune the move reflects AIG CEO Peter Zaffino’s determination to reposition the insurance giant as a more dynamic, capital-aligned institution. AIG’s Convex deal comes days after the insurance company announced a separate $2 billion acquisition deal with reinsurance company Everest Group.
The terms of the Convex deal, those privy to the negotiations told Fortune, include an initial $2.2 billion commitment to acquire a 35% in Convex Group, the specialty insurer known for underwriting complex risks. In parallel, AIG will further invest about $640 million for a 9.9% stake in Onex, Convex’s majority shareholder. Post-transactions, Onex will own 63% of Convex, and AIG will hold minority interests in both entities.
Convex, which was started in 2019, has emerged as a force in specialty insurance, growing rapidly to more than $5 billion in premiums. Convex’s combined ratio— a key profitability metric that shows how efficiently an insurer is running its core underwriting business—is 87.6%, nine percentage points better than the overall U.S. property and casualty (P&C) industry. Convex is also in the top quartile of global reinsurers and significantly above traditional insurance peers in terms of return on equity with an ROE of 17%. Shareholder equity (Convex’s net worth) at the company sits at $3.67 billion, up more than 16% year-over-year from $1.76 billion in 2022.
Aside from its performance, the firm has raised upwards of $3 billion from investors, including an initial $1.8 billion commitment by Onex.
Beyond passive equity, AIG is negotiating a “whole-account quota share reinsurance agreement” with Convex, which promises additional returns by providing AIG with a share of Convex’s underwriting profits. Over the next three years, AIG will also deploy $2 billion into Onex’s investment funds, with preferred access to Onex’s high-return platforms.
For Zaffino, who has spent the past half-decade reshaping AIG—from shedding non-core operations to reducing its risk exposure by over $1 trillion, to doubling down on underwriting discipline—the Convex deal is the latest in his campaign to revitalize the once ailing company.
Zaffino’s initiatives have helped bring AIG back from the edge after the company’s involvement in the 2008 financial crisis led to a decade of catastrophic financial decline. The firm hemorrhaged $30 billion in underwriting losses from 2008 to 2018. In Q2 2025, however, the firm reported a $1.1 billion profit, reversing a $4 billion loss a year earlier, which mainly reflected the divestiture of Corebridge Financial, a life insurance and retirement solutions provider. Adjusted after-tax income rose 56% year over year. The company’s earnings per share of $1.81 beat the forecast of $1.60, while revenue of $6.88 billion surpassed the expected $6.78 billion.
