Atlas VI Capital Ltd. has completed it’s issuance of a Series 2010-1 tranche of notes on behalf of French re/insurer SCOR. The deal, which we wrote about previously here, started life as a €60m transaction when it was first marketed but closed at an upsized €75m (another issuance taking advantage of investor demand).
Atlas VI Capital Ltd. Series 2010-1 provides SCOR with protection against European windstorms and Japanese earthquakes for a three year period. It replaces SCOR’s Atlas IV Reinsurance Ltd. deal which matures at the end of 2010.
Details of the transaction are available in our catastrophe bond deal directory. The press release announcing the deals completion from SCOR follows.
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SCOR extends its Atlas VI catastrophe bond programme
On 9 December 2010, SCOR successfully placed a new catastrophe bond (“cat bond”), Atlas VI Capital Limited Series 2010-1, which will provide the Group with EUR 75 million of protection against European windstorms and Japanese earthquakes for a risk period extending from 10 December 2010 to 31 March 2014. This transaction succeeds Atlas IV Reinsurance Limited, which is due to mature on 31 December 2010 and provides similar geographical cover of EUR 160 million.
Atlas VI Capital Limited is a special-purpose company created in 2009 and incorporated under the laws of Ireland. It may issue a series of cat bonds over several years. Aon Benfield Securities Inc. managed the transaction and the book on the deal. Standard & Poor’s has rated this issue at B-.
The loss payments covered by this cat bond are based on Risk Management Solutions’ (“RMS”) Paradex parametric indices. These indices enable SCOR to calculate its potential losses on a European windstorm or Japanese earthquake.
The protection of its capital constitutes a strategic axis for the Group. SCOR regularly uses solutions proposed by the capital markets, with eleven transactions completed to date:
– Atlas Reinsurance I, II, III and IV, Atlas V and Atlas VI Series 2009-1 and Series 2010-1;
– the Helix cat bond issued by Converium, which was integrated into the SCOR group in 2007;
– a contingent capital programme that provides the Group with EUR 150 million of additional capital in the event of certain catastrophes;
– two mortality swaps providing additional protection against major pandemics, natural catastrophes and terrorist attacks.
