Archive for November, 2014

It’s interesting to note that even in the currently low-priced, buyers reinsurance market and with ever greater quantities of alternative and ILS capital ready to take on risk, attitudes to reinsurance and retrocession buying can differ wildly.

Multi-Strat Re Ltd., the Bermuda based reinsurance venture that seeks to enable asset managers, such as hedge fund managers, to enter the market with less friction, has added another asset manager to its ranks in Crabel Capital Management LLC.

The Credit Suisse Asset Management (CSAM) insurance-linked strategies team and sub-advisor ILS Investment Management (ILSIM) have successfully raised $576m and closed the first ILS fund focused on property & casualty run-off portfolios.

The anticipation of a brisk last two months of the year, with reports that a number of billion dollars worth of new catastrophe bonds may come to market, stimulated secondary ILS trading activity in October despite the primary market remaining quiet.

The Ursa Re Ltd. (Series 2014-1) catastrophe bond, sponsored by the California Earthquake Authority, has benefited from investor demand helping it grow in size taking the total issuance to $400m, while pricing has narrowed towards the mid-point of guidance.

Swiss private banking and asset management firm LGT Group has restructured its actively managed insurance-linked securities (ILS) and reinsurance linked investment business under a new entity named LGT ILS Partners Ltd.

A new reinsurance company is set to launch in Guernsey, named Kelvin Re Limited (Guernsey), underwriting short-tail property and specialty lines while investing 50% of its assets with hedge funds, backed by ILS investment manager Credit Suisse Asset Management.

Everest Re’s latest catastrophe bond, the now $500m Kilimanjaro Re Ltd. (Series 2014-2), has been priced with the coupon settling at the mid-point. The cat bond notes have also received their rating and a little more detail on the transaction has emerged as a result.

UK-based weather forecaster the Met Office has turned its focus to the capital markets with a new Euro Windstorm Event Response service to provide insurers, reinsurers, insurance-linked security (ILS) players and brokers with a comprehensive view of European weather-related risk.

U.S. primary insurer USAA returns to the catastrophe bond market with a Residential Reinsurance 2014 Ltd. (Series 2014-2) deal, which again features some more of the unusual perils that featured in its deal earlier this year, meteorite impact and volcanic eruption risks.