Best of Artemis, week ending 12th May 2013

The primary catastrophe bond market saw another new transaction launch in Residential Re Ltd. (Series 2013-1) and an interesting new index-tracking ILS fund launched in the last week. As always, you can read every market news story and article here on the Artemis news blog, subscribe to our weekly email newsletter updates and for your convenience here are the ten most popular news articles from the last seven days on Artemis.

Top ten most viewed articles on Artemis.bm, week ending 12th May 2013:

1. As pricing decouples, the catastrophe bond market grows up: Guy Carpenter
   A report from GC Securities discusses the growing acceptance of catastrophe bonds and catastrophe risk in general as an investment among capital markets and institutional investors and says that the market in catastrophe risk is showing evidence of growing up.
2. Mercury Capital opens first index tracking catastrophe investment fund to external investors
   Bermuda based insurance-linked securities and industry loss warranty investment manager Mercury Capital has announced that it is opening up an innovative new ILS investment fund to external investors for the first time. You can view the Mercury iCRIX on our dedicated page here.
3. AlphaCat ILS operations ‘well ahead of the curve’: Validus CEO
   On its earnings call third-party capital was discussed by the Validus Holdings CEO Ed Noonan, who said he felt that with AlphaCat Validus is ‘well ahead of the curve’.
4. Third Point Re IPO preparations underway, according to reports
   Bermuda based hedge fund backed reinsurer Third Point Re, has hit the news in recent days as speculation mounts about a forthcoming initial public offering (IPO).
5. Roundtable: Examining the drivers behind recent ILS transactions and how the sector is evolving
   Research firm Clear Path Analysis kindly asked Artemis’ editor Steve Evans to moderate a round-table discussion for its most recent report, Insurance-Linked Securities for Institutional Investors 2013. Here we re-publish a full transcript of the round-table.
6. Residential Re 2013 launches, USAA’s first catastrophe bond of the year
   U.S. primary insurer USAA, the most prolific of catastrophe bond sponsors in the primary insurer category, has launched its 20th cat bond transaction Residential Reinsurance 2013 Ltd. (Series 2013-1).
7. Armor Re catastrophe bond prices at lowest end of guidance
   The Armor Re Ltd. (Series 2013-1) catastrophe bond, which is being marketed on behalf of first-time cat bond sponsor American Coastal Insurance Company, has seen its risk premium drop down to the lower end of an already reduced range when the deal finally priced yesterday, according to our sources.
8. Long Point Re III 2013-1 catastrophe bond doubles in size, drops in price
   Another catastrophe bond has increased in size while being marketed and has also seen its price guidance reduced, following the trend of larger and more keenly priced cat bonds that has been the feature of the 2013 cat bond market so far.
9. PERILS adds Italian market loss data, could facilitate Italy earthquake catastrophe bonds
   An announcement from Zurich based PERILS AG, an independent provider of industry-wide European catastrophe insurance data and loss indices, suggests that it may not be too much longer before we see a catastrophe bond featuring Italian earthquake risk.
10. Pelican Re 2013 cat bond completes, offers sponsor cost-savings and flexibility
    Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation has successfully secured itself a flexible, fully-collateralized layer of reinsurance protection through its second trip to the capital markets as a catastrophe bond sponsor with its Pelican Re Ltd. Series 2013-1 cat bond.

This is by no means every article published on Artemis during the last week, just the most popular among our readers. To ensure you always stay up to date with Artemis subscribe to our weekly email newsletter update.

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