Asagao III – White Rock Insurance (SAC) Ltd.

This is the third Asagao private catastrophe bond transaction that has been issued using insurance and reinsurance broker Aon’s Bermuda domiciled Class 3 and Class C insurer and segregated accounts company White Rock Insurance (SAC) Ltd.

The issuance appears to be a renewal of last year’s Asagao II Japanese private catastrophe bond, which was the second in the Asagao series of private cat bond deals, all issued by the White Rock SAC structure operated by Aon Insurance Managers.

Aon Insurance Managers will again have played the key role as manager for this Asagao III private cat bond issuance, facilitating it using its issuance vehicle to place a new private insurance-linked securities (ILS) deal (or private catastrophe bond) for an unknown Japanese catastrophe risk exposed cedent, likely working with Aon’s Reinsurance Solutions and perhaps ILS specialist unit Aon Securities as well.

White Rock Insurance (SAC) Ltd. issued ¥ 2 billion (JPY) of Principal At-Risk notes (which is roughly US $18.3m), acting on behalf of its segregated account named T84-Asagao III.

This transaction was issued through the White Rock Insurance (SAC) Ltd. ILS Note Program, which enables issuance of privately placed cat bonds or other ILS arrangements and their sale to investors.

The $18.3 million of Asagao III Principal At-Risk Notes are scheduled for maturity on April 28th 2022.

The newly issued Asagao III notes have been placed with qualified institutional investors, likely to have been an insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund or a number of ILS funds if the transaction was syndicated.

As with the previous Asagao private cat bonds, we assume the issued notes provide reinsurance or retrocessional coverage for Japanese earthquake losses for an unnamed cedent, with the coverage expected to be on a parametric trigger basis.