Eclipse Re Ltd. (Series 2025-2A)

This is the first privately placed catastrophe bond note issuance of 2025 that we have seen so far this year from the Eclipse Re Ltd. private insurance-linked securities (ILS) and collateralized reinsurance transformer and issuance platform, that we have listed in our extensive Deal Directory.

Eclipse Re Ltd. is a Bermuda domiciled special purpose insurer (SPI) and segregated account platform and it is owned and operated by insurance-linked securities (ILS) market facilitator and service provider Artex Capital Solutions.

Eclipse Re is used for issuing private catastrophe bonds to help sponsors access the capital markets efficiently and also provides a function as a risk transformation structure, operating on behalf of ILS fund managers and investors.

Eclipse Re transforms collateralized reinsurance or retrocession arrangements into investable notes, with features that are more similar to a catastrophe bond, so fully-securitized and with secondary transferability as an option. It can also be used as an efficient and lower-cost cat bond issuance platform, for insurers, reinsurers or other sponsors with smaller deal sizes where economies of scale may not warrant a full Rule 144A issuance.

In this case, Eclipse Re Ltd. has issued a $25 million tranche of Series 2025-2A notes, which we presume cover some type of property catastrophe reinsurance or retrocessional perils for an unknown cedent.

The $25 million of Series 2025-2A notes have been issued on behalf of Eclipse Re’s Segregated Account EC0070 and the notes have a final maturity date of March 31st 2026.

Given their maturity date, we expect the $25 million of Series 2025-2A notes represent the securitization of a one year or less duration reinsurance or retrocession arrangement by Eclipse Re, potentially a transaction from some point between the April and mid-year renewals that has taken some time to come to light.

The notes issued by Eclipse Re have been privately placed with qualified investors and listed on the Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX).

As ever, we make the assumption that the issuance features a reinsurance or retrocession arrangement that has been transformed using the Eclipse Re structure, to create and issue a series of investable, securitized catastrophe bond notes, typically for an ILS fund manager or investor portfolio.

We don’t know what the underlying trigger(s) or peril(s) are for private catastrophe bonds like this, but we assume they will be some kind of property catastrophe related risk.

The proceeds from the sale of the $25 million of private cat bond notes from this 2025-2A series of notes issued by Eclipse Re will have been used to collateralize a related reinsurance or retrocession contract, with funds held in a trust, enabling the risk transfer and the creation of investable catastrophe-linked securities.