Bermudian life reinsurer Athene Holding Ltd is on the lookout to expand in Europe, according to a report out of New York.

Private-equity firm Apollo Global Management, a major investor in Athene and the manager of about a fifth of its $70 billion-plus investment portfolio, is seeking to raise 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion) to help fund acquisitions for the life reinsurer, Bloomberg reported.

Athene, whose shares debuted on the New York Stock Exchange in a successful initial public offering last December, has expanded rapidly to become one of the biggest sellers of fixed annuities in the US market. It also has operations in Europe, through acquiring German firm Delta Lloyd Deutschland in January 2015.

Athene’s investment strategy is distinctive. It seeks to make higher returns than competitors by investing more in credit funds and middle-market lending, and less in lower-yielding bonds.

Fitch Ratings has described the strategy as “somewhat aggressive” and other analysts have noted the different way Athene is run from others in the same industry.

Investors have so far given the company the thumbs-up. Yesterday lunchtime, shares of Athene were trading at $51.59 — up almost 29 per cent from its IPO target price of four months ago.

In a regulatory filing last month, Athene flagged up its European expansion intentions.

In Europe, “we have come to realise that the opportunity over the next several years is larger than we initially anticipated,” Athene said. “In order to fully capitalise on this opportunity, we would need to commit capital to the European market at a level in excess of our targeted investment size, creating the need for third-party capital to support growth.”

Bloomberg, citing a source with knowledge of the plans, said Apollo may complete the fundraising as early as this year. With leverage and co-investments by Apollo clients, the insurer could have flexibility to pursue deals larger than 2 billion euros.