Archive for October, 2013

The launch of Nephila Syndicate 2357, the first Lloyd’s of London syndicate backed by an insurance-linked securities (ILS) manager, underlines the Lloyd’s re/insurance markets commitment to engage with new sources of capital, according to a report from Aon Benfield.

Greenlight Re, the Cayman Islands domiciled reinsurer, backed by fund manager David Einhorn and his Greenlight Capital, Inc. hedge fund which acts as an investment manager for Greenlight Re, faces increasing competition from new reinsurance companies with similar investment strategies.

A report released today by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers states that as the world’s population shifts towards urban population centres, the growing numbers of people living in cities and urban landscapes increases the world’s susceptibility to natural disasters.

Reinsurance-linked investments manager Leadenhall Capital Partners LLP (Leadenhall) has announced that the firm has passed $1.5 billion of assets under management as of September 2013. The firm has also added a new hire of a General Counsel & Head of Transaction Management.

The total amount of insurance-linked (ILS) listings, including catastrophe bonds, insurance-linked securities and reinsurance-linked investment funds, on the Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX) has grown to an all-time high of $8.4 billion.

Two Sigma Investments, a technology and data driven hedge fund and investments firm, is reported to be the front running candidate to buy hedge fund manager Steven A. Cohen’s firm SAC Capital’s stake in its year old reinsurer SAC Re.

Often the first reinsurance-linked investment manager to come out with an official statement after a catastrophe event, Swiss ILS investment manager Plenum Investments has said that it does not expect any impact to its catastrophe bond fund from Japanese Typhoon Wipha.

The lack of hurricane activity in the tropical Atlantic contributed to a slow secondary market for catastrophe bonds and insurance-linked securities during the month of September, according to some ILS investment fund managers.

In this series of interviews with investment managers from high-profile insurance-linked strategies (ILS) funds, collateralized reinsurance entities and reinsurance-linked investment firms, we hope to reveal details of the individual manager’s experience and the firm’s investment strategy. The latest in this series is Dexion Capital.

With the completion of AXA’s Calypso Capital II Ltd. European windstorm catastrophe bond occurring yesterday we now have statements from a number of the participants who had key roles in getting the largest Euro denominated natural catastrophe bond on record to market.