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AON Unit Launches New IP-Backed Lending Investment Vehicle

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Aon plc's (AON - Free Report) affiliated registered investment advisor, Aon Advantage Funds LLC has launched an investment vehicle aimed at providing innovative technology companies with minimal or non-dilutive capital against their Intellectual Property (“IP”).

M&G Investments, a global asset manager, has committed $300 million through its Catalyst private assets strategy into Aon’s new investment vehicle. Given the strong footprint of Aon in IP-backed lending, M&G offers financing to technology companies and leverages Aon’s expertise in IP.

Aon is an established leader in the IP lending space and has financed more than $1 billion through its specialized IP solutions group and Aon Advantage Funds lending strategies. Aon Advantage Funds aims to help organizations grow their businesses by meeting their capital requirements and providing non-dilutive capital to companies with transformative technologies.

The company views the emerging asset class of IP assets as holding tremendous opportunity for insurance-linked securities funds and their investors. Earlier this year, Aon collaborated with insurtech Vesttoo on IP insurance-related financing solutions.

Catalyst is M&G’s global strategy committed to innovation for impact and has invested $5.6 billion in private businesses striving to create a more sustainable world. However, the catalyst’s investment in Aon and a strategic collaboration would develop the company’s IP-backed investment strategy.

This move will benefit IP-rich companies to realize the value of their asset and position Aon for meaningful growth led by innovation.

Price Performance

Shares of Aon have gained 0.6% year to date against the industry’s decline of 1.4%.

Zacks Investment Research
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Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Aon currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks from the insurance space are Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (AJG - Free Report) , Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC - Free Report) and Aflac Incorporated (AFL - Free Report) . All these companies carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The bottom line of Arthur J. Gallagher outpaced estimates in all the last four quarters, the average surprise being 2.1%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AJG’s 2023 earnings suggests an improvement of 13.2%, while the same for revenues indicates growth of 12.5% from the corresponding year-ago reported figures. The consensus mark for AJG’s 2023 earnings has moved 0.2% north in the past 30 days.

Marsh & McLennan Companies’ bottom line outpaced estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average being 4.1%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for MMC’s 2023 earnings indicates a 9.3% rise, while the same for revenues suggests 5.8% growth from the respective prior-year reported figures. The consensus mark for MMC’s 2023 earnings has moved 0.3% north in the past 30 days.

The bottom line of Aflac outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 5.9%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AFL’s 2023 earnings suggests a 4.9% improvement from the prior-year reported figure. The consensus mark for AFL’s 2023 earnings has moved 2.9% north in the past 30 days.


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