Activist Hedge Fund TCIM Pushes Voya Toward Sale

Asset manager Voya Financial is being pressured by hedge fund Toms Capital Investment Management (TCIM) to sell all or part of its pension and insurance products business, the Financial Times reported Thursday (April 23), citing unnamed sources.

TCIM has built a position in Voya and is encouraging the company to put itself up for sale or sell its health insurer arm, according to the report.

Reached by PYMNTS, Voya Financial declined to comment on the report.

TCIM did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.

According to the FT report, Voya has outperformed its rivals on inflows but the part of its business that insures employers against health benefit claims had a $10 million operating loss in the fourth quarter of 2025.

TCIM is making its demands at a time when several large insurers with asset management arms have expressed interest in growing via dealmaking and when the asset management sector has seen a wave of consolidation, per the report.

The asset management sector saw nearly $25 billion worth of deals in the first quarter, a figure that was greater than half that recorded in all of 2025, the report said, citing data from Dealogic.

In another, separate move, it was reported in December 2025 that TCIM made a “significant” investment in Target at a time when the retailer had 12 consecutive quarters of negative or negligible sales growth and had seen its share price fall 60% from the record high it achieved during the pandemic.

That report said TCIM was founded in 2017, is known to be an activist investor, and pushed for strategic changes in three other companies while building stakes in them: Kellanova, US Steel and Kenvue.

Voya said in February that it delivered over $1 billion in pre-tax adjusted operating earnings in 2025, while generating about $775 million of excess capital, which was up 19% year over year.

“We delivered strong results in 2025, exceeding our targets for adjusted pre-tax earnings and cash generation, reflecting the strength of our diversified businesses, our disciplined execution, and the focus on our customers,” Voya Financial CEO Heather Lavallee said in a Feb. 3 earnings release.

Voya is scheduled to announce its first quarter financial results on May 5.