We show that life insurers have increased their lending in the private placement market over the past decade, totaling $849 billion, or 14%, on life insurers’ balance sheets in 2024. A substantial part of the growth stems from private credit extension to financial borrowers and to privately placed asset-backed securities. We document that private equity-owned (PE-owned) life insurers drive these trends. We also provide evidence that these investments have about 80 basis points higher spreads compared to public bonds and foster PE-owned insurers’ growth in the annuities market. A one standard deviation increase in financial private placement investments is associated with 0.05 percentage points higher market share in the annuities market.