Munich Re’s latest catastrophe bond, issued by their newly domiciled in Ireland SPV Queen Street III Capital Ltd., began marketing as a $50m issuance when we wrote about it on the 15th July. Thanks to significant investor demand for a European windstorm cat bond, which offered investors an opportunity for portfolio diversification, the deal finally closed at $150m allowing Munich Re to increase the cover sought threefold.
The Bermuda Stock Exchange has issued a press release to announce the listing of the notes issued by Queen Street III Capital on their exchange today. We haven’t yet seen any additional information on the transaction regarding the final rating of the notes or any comments from the sponsor, but we expect those to be published within the next day or so and will update you once further details become available.
Appleby Securities (Bermuda) Ltd. sponsored the listing of the notes on the BSX and have also been appointed ongoing listing sponsor.
James McKirdy, Chief Compliance Officer of the BSX stated, “We are delighted to welcome Queen Street III Limited’s Principal At-Risk Variable Notes to the Official List of the BSX. The BSX Listing Regulations for International Issuers of Insurance Related Securities are specifically designed to facilitate the listing of this type of Notes that are offered to institutional and sophisticated Qualified Investors”.
Mr. McKirdy continued, “This is yet another issuance of Notes that have taken advantage of the Exchange’s Listing Regulations for Insurance Related Securities and we are extremely pleased to be working with Queen Street III Capital Limited, Munich Re and Appleby Securities (Bermuda) Ltd.
Carol Feathers, on behalf of Appleby Securities (Bermuda) Ltd. noted, “Once again, it has been a distinct pleasure to assist in bringing another high quality Insurance Linked Securities (“ILS”) listing to The BSX. The usual co-operation and assistance of BSX personnel made it a very smooth exercise indeed. Appleby Securities (Bermuda) Ltd. looks forward with optimism to working with the BSX on many more ILS listings as Bermuda continues to grow as a choice destination for such listings.”
The fact that Munich Re managed to upsize this deal so significantly will be attractive to other sponsors who may be seeking to bring non-U.S. windstorm perils to market. It will be interesting to see how the Pylon II Capital European windstorm and Embarcadero Re California earthquake cat bonds, which are both currently being marketed, close and whether they manage to secure additional capacity for their sponsors.
You can read all about the Queen Street III Capital Ltd. transaction in our catastrophe bond Deal Directory.
View all of our Artemis Live video interviews and subscribe to our podcast.
All of our Artemis Live insurance-linked securities (ILS), catastrophe bonds and reinsurance video content and video interviews can be accessed online.
Our Artemis Live podcast can be subscribed to using the typical podcast services providers, including Apple, Google, Spotify and more.
