Seaside Re (Series 2017-1)

A new $86.5 million Seaside Re (Series 2017-1) private catastrophe bond, or cat bond lite, transaction, has been issued by German reinsurance firm Hannover Re’s segregated accounts vehicle, Kaith Re Ltd.

This Seaside Re private cat bond or insurance-linked security (ILS) saw Kaith Re Ltd. acting for its segregated account named Seaside Re to issue a Seaside Re bond program and three tranches of Series 2017-1 private cat bond notes.

The Seaside Re private cat bond issuance features a Series 2017-1 tranche A bond sized at $27 million, a 2017-2 bond sized at $9.5 million and a 2017-3 bond sized at $50 million. All three of the tranches are due January 15th 2018, so likely represent an annual reinsurance or industry loss warranty (ILW) contract transacted around the January 2017 renewal season.

Seaside Re’s three tranches combined add up to $86.5 million, which makes this issuance through Kaith Re the largest private cat bond facilitated by Hannover Re that we’ve covered to date.

As with all the other private cat bonds Kaith Re has issued, we assume that the Seaside Re notes cover property catastrophe risks, given the dominance of those perils in the ILS market, but details of the exact nature of this transaction are unavailable at this time.

The three tranches of Seaside Re 2017-1 notes totaling $86.5 million have been admitted for listing on the Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX) as Section V – Insurance Related Securities and have been placed with qualified investors.

Update – January 23rd 2018:

The $50 million of Seaside Re 2017-3 notes had their maturity extended, from January 15th 2018 to February 8th 2018. This is possibly to allow for loss development and to establish whether the notes would payout following the major catastrophes and hurricanes of 2017.

Update – April 5th 2018:

Maturity was extended again for the outstanding $50 million of Seaside Re 2017-3 notes and the maturity date has been pushed back to June 30th 2018. This is likely to allow for loss development to continue in order to determine what if any loss is faced by investors in the notes.

Update – January 2019:

These notes were allowed to mature at the end of December 2018. It’s unknown whether a reinsurance recovery was made from the collateral, or whether investors received their full principal back.