Best of Artemis, week ending 24th February 2013

As we suggested might happen last week, the primary catastrophe bond market has come back to life as regular sponsor Nationwide Mutual seeks to issue its third cat bond, Caelus Re 2013 Ltd. As always, you can read every market news story and article 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 24th February 2013:

1. Everest Re see opportunity in alternative reinsurance capital management
   Judging by the comments made by its CEO on a recent earnings call, Bermuda reinsurer Everest Re intends to leverage third-party capital as a key part of its business.
2. Goldman Sachs sells 75% of Ariel Re reinsurance business to investors, say reports
   According to a report in the Financial Times, Goldman Sachs has completed the sale of 75% of its reinsurance operations, Ariel Re, to investors through a private placement.
3. Investors increasingly seeing opportunity in private ILS & reinsurance transactions
   Investors in the ILS and collateralized reinsurance sector are seeing a trend for some of the most profitable premium opportunities being in private transactions.
4. Caelus Re 2013 catastrophe bond being marketed for Nationwide Mutual
   The primary issuance market for catastrophe bond transactions is waking up after an unusually quiet start to 2013 as U.S. P&C insurer Nationwide Mutual looks to return to the catastrophe bond market with its third cat bond, Caelus Re 2013 Ltd.
5. ILS Capital Management announces senior hires
   Bermuda based investment management firm ILS Capital Management, Ltd., which specialises in delivering its clients investment opportunities in collateralized reinsurance and insurance-linked securities, has announced two new hires to its team.
6. KKR aims to help Nephila Capital accelerate its growth
   KKR & Co. L.P. (or Kohlberg Kravis Roberts), who acquired a 25% stake in the largest investment manager in the insurance-linked securities (ILS) and reinsurance sector Nephila Capital recently, said in its Q4 earnings call that it aims to help Nephila accelerate its growth.
7. Legal & General and Hannover Re participate in largest UK pension longevity risk transfer
   UK insurance and investment group Legal & General has completed the largest ever UK longevity swap with the BAE Systems 2000 Pension Plan.
8. Swiss Re said to be planning contingent convertible bond issuance
   Reinsurer Swiss Re is in the news regarding the use of contingent capital, after a bank told reporters at Dow Jones that the reinsurer plans to arrange a series of meetings to roadshow a contingent convertible bond issuance.
9. As Citizens depopulates, reinsurance market gets more Florida hurricane risk
   A side-effect of Florida Citizens plan to reduce the risk it holds through depopulation of some of its policies and increasing its own use of private market risk transfer will be an increase in the amount of Florida hurricane risk in the private reinsurance market.
10. Lancashire Capital Management launch shows firms third-party capital ambitions
    Lancashire Holdings, a global provider of specialty insurance and reinsurance products, is launching a new brand which will lead its efforts in third-party capital management and give it a platform it can expand from to leverage new opportunities to attract and utilise third-party capital within its underwriting.

This is by no means all of our articles from 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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