Capital has a sound when it moves with intention. Sometimes it whispers, sometimes it hums, and sometimes it lands like a clean bassline that lets the whole room know something serious just walked in. Avocet Partners arriving with a $500M committed equity backing is that sound. No fireworks, no bravado, just weight. Capital that expects to be respected because it respects the work.
Avocet Partners launched in NY in 2025 with a mandate that feels refreshingly disciplined. Acquire, operate, grow. Life and annuity insurance are not businesses for tourists or adrenaline junkies. They reward patience, regulatory fluency, and the ability to think in decades, not quarters. This is an industry where endurance beats excitement, and Avocet Partners showed up dressed for the long flight.
Jagan Pisharath, Founder and CEO, has seen the market from every seat that sharpens judgment. Citi, H.I.G. Capital, Boston Consulting Group, Nomura, Point72, Aquarian Holdings. Banking, private equity, consulting, public markets, permanent capital. This is not résumé collecting. This is pattern recognition built through cycles that punished shortcuts and rewarded preparation.
Backing the platform are Oaktree Capital Management and Lane42 Investment Partners. On the Oaktree side, Thomas Casarella and Zach Serebrenik bring Special Situations DNA that understands complexity, downside protection, and long duration risk. Lane42, led by Scott L. Graves with Trevor Winstead as Partner, brings fresh capital with seasoned instincts. Insurance attracts this caliber of capital when the thesis is real, not rhetorical.
The first acquisition tells you everything. EMC National Life Insurance Company brings a nationally licensed platform operating in 48 states, anchored in Des Moines with approximately 80 professionals and distribution relationships across more than 10,000 independent agents. A carrier connected to an organization founded in 1911 does not survive by accident. It survives by honoring policyholders, regulators, and time itself.
The Avocet name fits the strategy. These birds do not rush. They read the wind, conserve energy, and travel far. Permanent capital paired with a tech-enabled insurance platform is not about disruption theater. It is about modernizing infrastructure, expanding annuity offerings, and serving retirement income needs that demographics have already locked in.
Ben Goodman, General Counsel and Partner, brings deep insurance software and operational experience. Jad Salha adds investment and insurance operating expertise. Sam Kaplan completes a founding group designed to execute quietly and precisely. No excess headcount, no vanity metrics, just builders assembling a platform that compounds trust.
This is what disciplined ambition looks like in insurance. Capital aligned with operators. Operators aligned with time. When money moves like this, it is not chasing yield. It is building gravity, and gravity has a way of pulling serious outcomes closer without ever raising its voice.
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