The insurance-linked securities (ILS) and collateralized reinsurance investment management entities of the Cartesian Capital Group have been sold to investment manager Neuberger Berman Group.
Cartesian Re, the ILS asset management unit of Cartesian Capital, and the units reinsurance and segregated accounts vehicle Iris Re have both been sold to Neuberger Berman, a private asset manager with around $315 billion of assets, for an undisclosed sum.
Cartesian Re will be renamed as NB Insurance-Linked Strategies and its affiliated Bermuda reinsurance vehicle, Iris Re, will be renamed NB Reinsurance Ltd.
The Cartesian Re ILS asset management business, which has had a particular specialism in industry loss warranties (ILW’s) and parametric trigger reinsurance and retrocession instruments, had just over $1 billion of capital at the time of the sale, up from around $750 million at the start of 2018.
Cartesian Capital Group will work with Neuberger Berman as it delivers ILS services and investment opportunities globally following the acquisition of Cartesian Re.
“We are excited that Cartesian Re has now joined Neuberger Berman. I have long had the highest regard for Neuberger’s thoughtful investment philosophy and execution,” commented Peter Yu, managing partner at Cartesian Capital. “We look forward to a long and productive collaboration.”
“The investment team from Cartesian Re brings to our clients an established track record from unique investments that are not correlated with traditional asset classes,” added Tony Tutrone, Head of Alternatives, Neuberger Berman. “Peter and his team started with a concept and have built a world-class organization and we look forward to working together.”
All of the Cartesian Re team, including Managing Directors Peter DiFiore, Cedric Drui and Charles Mixon who have extensive ILS and reinsurance asset management experience, have joined Neuberger Berman and will continue to serve in their current roles.
This guarantees continuity for clients and investors, while the team now being part of a larger asset manager provides options for growth in the future and access to a new investor base.
The deal is the latest sign that ILS remains a very attractive asset class and a wide-range of investment managers are interested in having this as part of their offering to investors.
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