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EquiTrust Life Insurance Company
EquiTrust Life Insurance Company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Chicago, with operational hubs in West Des Moines and St. Louis.
EquiTrust Life Insurance Company
EquiTrust Life Insurance Company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Chicago, with operational hubs in West Des Moines and St. Louis. Earvin 'Magic' Johnson acquired a controlling interest in 2015, making EquiTrust the largest African-American-owned insurance company in the United States at the time of his investment. The firm is held through Magic Johnson Enterprises, with President and CEO Eric Holoman — also an Operating Partner at MJE — running day-to-day operations. The company's core business remains the origination and servicing of fixed-rate and indexed annuity products, which generate a general account asset base that the firm invests across asset classes. EquiTrust's investment portfolio spans commercial real estate, fixed income, private credit, and infrastructure. The firm directly originates commercial mortgage loans and holds real estate assets through a dedicated portfolio, targeting value-add and core-plus properties across the United States. It participates in infrastructure investing through JLC Infrastructure, a joint venture with Loop Capital formed to pursue large-scale public-private partnership projects, including transportation and energy assets. The firm also allocates to separate accounts and has partnered with MBE Capital Partners to distribute PPP loans to historically underserved communities, reflecting a dual mandate of return generation and community impact. Since Johnson's acquisition, EquiTrust has expanded its investment footprint and grown policyholder surplus through organic annuity sales and capital deployment. The firm has been named to Ward's 50 — a benchmark for top-performing life and health insurers — for at least ten consecutive years. EquiTrust is a member of the National Association of Investment Companies (NAIC), the trade group for diverse-owned alternative investment firms. Its philanthropic vehicle, EquiTrust Cares, handles community-focused giving independent of the insurance enterprise. Structurally, EquiTrust is distinct among US insurers: it is wholly owned by a single individual, Magic Johnson, through his holding company rather than being a publicly traded entity or a mutual company. This architecture allows the general account to serve as an allocator to diverse managers and a co-investor in community-facing infrastructure without quarterly earnings pressure. The firm operates with the long-duration liability profile of an insurance company but deploys assets with the flexibility of a privately held family office asset manager.
General information
Firm type
Insurance
Year founded
2003
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Chicago
Corporate office
Chicago, IL, United States
Additional offices
West Des Moines, IA · St. Louis, MO
Principals
Earvin 'Magic' Johnson
Chairman and Majority Owner
Eric Holoman
President and Chief Executive Officer
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who owns EquiTrust, and how is the investment strategy governed?
Earvin 'Magic' Johnson has been the majority owner and chairman since 2015, holding his stake through Magic Johnson Enterprises. Day-to-day investment and operational decisions are led by President and CEO Eric Holoman, who also serves as an Operating Partner at MJE. The firm's investment strategy is governed internally by its management team, responsive to the general account's annuity-liability profile.
Does EquiTrust invest beyond its general account, and can it take external capital?
EquiTrust primarily invests its own general account assets, sourced from the sale of fixed-rate and indexed annuities. The firm does not market pooled investment vehicles to external institutional allocators. It does co-invest through joint ventures like JLC Infrastructure, partnering with Loop Capital, but these structures deploy the firm's own balance sheet rather than third-party capital.
What does EquiTrust's commercial real estate portfolio look like?
EquiTrust maintains a direct commercial mortgage loan portfolio and a dedicated real estate portfolio targeting commercial properties in the United States. The firm pursues a mix of direct lending secured by real estate and equity investments in core-plus and value-add assets. Individual property holdings and loan-level details are not publicly disclosed.
How does EquiTrust's infrastructure investing work?
EquiTrust participates in infrastructure investing through JLC Infrastructure, a 50/50 joint venture between Magic Johnson Enterprises and Loop Capital. JLC focuses on public-private partnership (P3) projects, including transportation terminals, energy upgrades, and municipal assets. The venture positions EquiTrust to access large-scale, long-duration infrastructure deals typically reserved for institutional managers.
Is EquiTrust an asset manager that outside investors can access?
No. EquiTrust is a life insurance company whose investment operations serve its own general account, not external limited partners. Institutional allocators cannot gain exposure to EquiTrust's portfolio through a fund structure; they can only interact with the firm as a policyholder, as a co-investment joint venture partner, or by participating in debt offerings the firm buys.
Which sectors does EquiTrust explicitly avoid?
EquiTrust does not publish a sector exclusion list, but as an annuity-backed insurer, it is subject to state regulatory investment laws that generally limit concentrated exposure to speculative asset classes. The firm's observed allocations concentrate in fixed income, real estate, infrastructure, and private credit, with no public record of direct venture capital, private equity buyout funds, or hedge fund seeding activity.
Does EquiTrust have a philanthropic or community investment mandate?
EquiTrust maintains a philanthropic arm called EquiTrust Cares, separate from the general account. The firm also engaged in impact-oriented lending through a partnership with MBE Capital Partners to originate PPP loans to underserved businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The NAIC membership further signals a strategic interest in directing capital to diverse-owned alternative managers, though this is an allocator choice rather than a legal mandate.
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