NEW YORK CITY—MetLife Real Estate Investors said it has won a $500-million mandate from a reinsurance company to invest in US commercial real estate loans. It's the largest such deal for the third-party asset-management real estate group of MetLife Inc. since 2013, Bloomberg Business reported Friday.

MREI closed the deal in the first quarter and has formed a separate account capitalized by $500 million from the reinsurer, which MetLife did not identify. The nation's largest life insurer, MetLife will originate and service variable and fixed-rate loans across various property types for the reinsurer through MREI. The fixed rate loan terms will stretch between five and 30 years, while the variable-rate mortgages will carry three- to 10-year terms, according to Real Estate Capital.

MetLife revealed that it had closed a similar commercial mortgage participation mandate this past November for a US life insurer to invest $300 million. In 2014, MREI originated more than $800 million in commercial mortgage loans for institutional clients.

"This new mandate underscores the ability of our debt investment platform to meet our customers' needs for innovative and well-managed solutions in commercial real estate," says Lou Jug, head of investor services for MREI. "We look forward to participating actively in what should be a strong market among both lenders and borrowers in 2015."

MREI's debt platform currently has total commitments of more than $6 billion in separately managed accounts from five insurance companies and one bank. The platform currently has $1.3 billion in assets under management. Formed in 2012, MREI received a $5-billion commitment the following year from SunTrust Banks Inc.

In January, MetLife said it had originated $12.1 billion in commercial real estate loans globally through MREI. “Real estate investments are an important part of MetLife's asset-liability matching program,” the company said in a statement. “The long-term nature of these investments makes them a good match for the long-term liabilities the company writes.”

Bloomberg Business reported that MetLife and other large North American life companies have been pushing into fund management for institutional investors to boost fee income. This past December, AustralianSuper Pty, that country's largest pension fund, said it had tapped Des Moines-based Principal Real Estate Investors to be its investment advisor for its US office strategy.

AustralianSuper's mandate through Principal will focus on large, high-quality office investments in major US markets, including New York City, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington, DC. Investments will be made either directly or through joint ventures in properties of US $200 million or greater.

However, AustralianSuper's largest investment to date in US commercial real estate occurred not in the office sector but in retail. Earlier this month, the $80-billion pension fund agreed to pay $1.1 billion for a 25% stake in General Growth Properties' Ala Moana Center in Honolulu.

The 2.2-million-square-foot shopping center is one of the world's largest, and a redevelopment will add another 660,000 square feet. The deal was arranged by Queensland Investment Corp., which holds a $1-billion-plus mandate for US investments on behalf of AustralianSuper.