Archive for July, 2013

The MetroCat Re Ltd. (Series 2013-1) catastrophe bond, which is the first cat bond in the markets history to bring storm surge risk alone in a transaction to insurance-linked securities investors, has completed successfully at $200m, received its final rating and the notes and program have listed in Bermuda.

In its recent second-quarter earnings conference call Platinum Underwriters Holdings, a Bermuda based provider of property, casualty and finite risk reinsurance coverages to a global client base, CEO discussed the differing characteristics of non-traditional reinsurance capital depending on its source.

Chief Executive Officer of Bermuda located insurance, reinsurance and third-party reinsurance capital management group Validus Holdings, Ed Noonan, said on the firms recent earnings call that its AlphaCat ILS management segment turned down money from investors in Q2, as did the ‘smarter managers in the space’.

Both the Chairman, Robert Childs, and CEO, Bronek Masojada, of Bermuda headquartered insurance and reinsurance group Hiscox have said that they see insurance-linked securities (ILS) capacity as a permanent and growing feature of the wider insurance and reinsurance market.

SAC Re, the Bermuda based Class 4 reinsurance company backed by Steven A. Cohen, billionaire hedge fund manager and founder of the beleaguered hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors LP, has officially had its financial strength and issuer credit ratings placed under review with negative implications by A.M. Best.

Analysis from PwC questions the ability and capacity of traditional reinsurers to support the potential growth of the longevity hedging market over the next few years. PwC predicts the market for risk transfer in the form of longevity swaps and hedging in the UK could triple over the next three years.

Yet another catastrophe bond has increased in size, from the preliminary volume it launched with, while at the same time the coupon price guidance has been reduced below the initial guide range. The Northshore Re Limited (Series 2013-1) cat bond is the first to be sponsored by AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd.

Third Point Re, the Bermuda domiciled reinsurer backed by Third Point LLC hedge fund owner Dan Loeb, has increased the offering size of its long-awaited IPO to a maximum of $345m. When Third Point Re initially filed its IPO documentation it was hoping for an offering of $250m but it seems demand has allowed it […]

The month of June saw insurance-linked securities (ILS) funds returns impacted by the major flooding event which struck Central European countries with some of the worst floods in recent memory. The event dragged the average return of ILS funds in June down to flat or 0.00%, as measured by the Eurekahedge ILS Advisers Index.

Scottish Re’s 2006 Ballantyne Re Regulation XXX type life insurance securitization transaction will struggle to return much capital to investors following huge mark-to-market losses on the assets in the underlying collateral accounts, according to an update on the deal from rating agency Fitch Ratings.