Aspen renews Silverton Re sidecar at upsized $125m for 2016

Aspen Reinsurance said that its alternative capital management and insurance-linked securities (ILS) unit, Aspen Capital Markets, has renewed its collateralized reinsurance sidecar Silverton Re with $125 million of capital for the 2016 underwriting year.

Global insurance and reinsurance firm Aspen has been steadily increasing the size of its Silverton Re reinsurance sidecar every year since its launch.

Originally, Aspen launched Silverton Re, its Bermuda domiciled special purpose reinsurance vehicle, in December 2013 with $50m of third-party capital and $15 million of capital from Aspen, taking it to $65 million in size.

It then renewed the vehicle for in December 2014 with $85 million of capital in total, made up of $70 million of third-party reinsurance capital from investors, with the remaining $15 million still contributed by Aspen itself.

Now, for the 2016 underwriting year, Aspen has grown Silverton Re by 47%. The vehicle’s $125 million of capital is made up of $100 million from third-parties and an increased contribution of $25 million from Aspen itself.

Silverton Re is a typical reinsurance sidecar and will enter into a quota share retrocession agreement with Aspen Bermuda Limited and Aspen Insurance UK Limited. The agreement will see Silverton Re reinsure a proportionate share of Aspen Re’s globally diversified property catastrophe excess of loss portfolio.

The capital is being raised through the issuance and sale of $125 million of Series 2016-1 Participating Notes, scheduled for maturity on September 17th 2018. Aon Securities Inc. acted as the placement agent for the sidecar transaction.

Stephen Postlewhite, Chief Executive Officer, Aspen Re, commented; “We are very pleased with the partnerships we are building through Silverton Re. Our aim has been to leverage the expertise within Aspen Re, in underwriting, research, distribution and analysis, and provide investors with access to diversified natural catastrophe risk. We remain confident that the strong relationships we have built will continue to develop as we make further progress in our strategy to increase our operational flexibility in the capital markets.”

For more on reinsurance sidecar investments and renewals view our list of collateralized reinsurance sidecars.

Also read:

– Silverton Re sidecar investors benefit from $8m income in Q3 2015.

– Aspen’s Silverton Re reinsurance sidecar notes add 11% in Q3.

– Aspen renews Silverton Re reinsurance sidecar with $85m for 2015.