Artex Axcell Re (Series FE0002)

An Artex Risk Solutions entity has issued a new private catastrophe bond arrangement, with the roughly US $4 million Artex Axcell Re (Series FE0002) transaction appearing to be a possible renewal of a previous deal, while also being denominated in Japanese Yen suggesting the cat bond lite likely covers perils from that country.

This new private cat bond transaction, or cat bond lite, has been issued by the Artex Axcell Re (Bermuda) Limited transformer and cell facility, which is operated by Artex Risk Solutions.

This structure has been regularly used over the years for transacting and the issuance of private insurance-linked securities (ILS) notes, from collateralized reinsurance to private cat bonds with the help of facilitator Artex.

This new issuance sees Artex Axcell Re (Bermuda) Limited, under its ILS Note Program II, having issued JPY 600 million (roughly US $4 million) in Series FE0002 notes.

These new private cat bond notes have a due date of April 28th 2026, so their coverage runs into that month, which aligns relatively closely with the majority of reinsurance arrangements for cedents in Japan.

The previous FE0001 issuance had a due date of April 28th 2025, hence we feel it’s likely this is a renewal of that earlier and now matured private cat bond arrangement for a Japanese sponsor.

Given the Japanese Yen denomination of the private cat bond notes, we again make the assumption that they will cover a Japanese peril, likely property catastrophe risk in nature, for an unknown Japanese sponsor or entity active there.

The JPY 600 million of Series FE0002 private cat bond notes issued by Artex Axcell Re have been privately placed with qualified institutional investors and are now listed on the Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX).

As with every private ILS or cat bond deal that we uncover, until we learn more details we assume these cover a property catastrophe reinsurance or retrocession risk, in this case in Japan.

We believe this could be a renewal of the now matured and also JPY 600 million Artex Axcell Re (Series FE0001) transaction that we reported on in November 2024.