Life Settlement - Portfolios News

Life Partners Holdings, Inc. (NasdaqGS: LPHI) today announced that its Board of Directors has approved a 5-for-4 split of the company’s common stock which will be paid in the form of a stock dividend on February 16, 2009 to shareholders of record as of February 6, 2009.

Aussie industry competitive

Australia’s first life settlement fund has rocketed in the past four months.

If MetLife Inc. is any guide, it’s time to search beyond leveraged buyouts for investment returns.

The biggest U.S. life insurer plans to devote more to hedge funds, startup companies, and even timber to spruce up $330 billion in holdings dominated by bonds yielding about 6 percent. What New York-based MetLife won’t do is boost the share of assets dedicated to leveraged buyouts after gains from LBO funds were almost double the company’s expectations in the first quarter.

Genstar Capital, LLC and Boston Ventures announced today a majority investment in 21st Services, in partnership with management. The Minneapolis, Minnesota based Company is a leading provider of mission critical, life expectancy information that is currently used in the life settlement industry, the secondary market for life insurance, and with new applications planned to be launched in coming years.

Ritchie Capital Management Ltd. sought bankruptcy protection for two Dublin-based funds after they lost more than $700 million on life insurance investments.

Managers of Life Partners Holdings Inc. are not sure why the price of the company’s common stock is going up and down so much this week.

The life settlement industry is poised for another major growth spurt in the latter half of 2006 as many non-recourse premium financing contracts enter the secondary market, according to life settlement broker John Welcom of Welcome Funds. Life settlements enable seniors to sell existing life insurance policies for sums that exceed their cash surrender values.