The catastrophe bond and insurance-linked security transactions issued during 2012

The catastrophe bond and insurance-linked security primary market had an active year in 2012, with total issuance over the course of the year helping 2012 become the second highest volume of issuance recorded in a single year. Cat bonds and ILS in 2012 saw both repeat issuers and sponsors return to the market, as well as some new entrants tap the capital markets for cat bond capacity for the first time. No cat bond losses occurred in 2012, although Sandy still threatens to change that statistic should losses rise.

We recorded a very healthy 29 cat bond and ILS deals in our Deal Directory, which includes a number of private or unrated transactions which we received details about. This is just one more transaction than we recorded in 2011. The majority are pure catastrophe risk deals, with one medical benefit claim linked ILS and one pure mortality bond, one other deal contains both catastrophe and mortality risk.

The cat bond market supported investors needs well in 2012 with a good mix of perils and geographies covered and diversification also found thanks to a good mix of triggers and deal terms. The downward slide in cat bond pricing helped some very large deals come to market in 2012, along with the largest single tranche cat bond on record, Everglades Re.

Here is a list of every deal we recorded as completed during 2012. As we said, this includes some private or unrated deals which other sources of cat bond and ILS market data may not include in their reviews. In total our Deal Directory recorded approximately $6.339 billion worth of cat bond capacity issued in 2012, beating 2011’s $4.95 billion comfortably even though the number of transactions was only just higher at 29.

	Issuer	Cedent	Risks / Perils covered	Size	Date
	Compass Re Ltd. (Series 2012-1)	National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh	U.S. hurricane, U.S. earthquake	$400m	Dec 2012
	Lakeside Re III Ltd.	Zurich American Insurance & Zurich Insurance Co. Ltd.	U.S. and Canadian earthquake	$270m	Dec 2012
	Skyline Re Ltd. (Series 2013-1)	?	New Madrid earthquake and severe thunderstorms	$50m	Dec 2012
	Residential Reinsurance 2012 Ltd. (Series 2012-2)	USAA	U.S. hurricane, U.S. earthquake, U.S. severe thunderstorm, U.S. winter storm and California wildfire	$400m	Nov 2012
	Queen Street VII Re Ltd.	Munich Re	U.S. hurricane, European windstorm	$75m	Nov 2012
	Atlas Reinsurance VII Limited	SCOR	U.S. hurricane, U.S. earthquake, European windstorm	$228m	Nov 2012
	Mythen Re Ltd. (Series 2012-2)	Swiss Re	U.S. hurricane, UK extreme mortality	$200m	Nov 2012
	MultiCat Mexico Ltd. (Series 2012-1)	Swiss Re	Mexico hurricane, Mexico earthquake	$315m	Oct 2012
	Eurus III Ltd.	Hannover Re	European windstorm	€100m	Sep 2012
	Embarcadero Re Ltd. (Series 2012-2)	California Earthquake Authority	California earthquake	$300m	Jul 2012
	Vita Capital V Ltd.	Swiss Re	Extreme mortality	$275m	Jul 2012
	Queen Street VI Re Ltd.	Munich Re	U.S hurricane, European windstorm	$100m	Jul 2012
	Oak Leaf Re Ltd. (Series 2012-1)	Unknown Florida based cedant	U.S. hurricane	$22.78m	Jun 2012
	Long Point Re III Ltd. (Series 2012-1)	Travelers	U.S. hurricane (Northeastern U.S. states only)	$250m	Jun 2012
	Residential Reinsurance 2012 Ltd. (Series 2012-1)	USAA	U.S. hurricane, U.S. earthquake, U.S. severe thunderstorm, U.S. winter storm, U.S. wildfire	$200m	May 2012
	Mythen Ltd. (Series 2012-1)	Swiss Re	First and second event U.S. hurricane, European windstorm	$400m	May 2012
	Everglades Re Ltd. (Series 2012-1)	Citizens Property Insurance	Florida hurricanes	$750m	Apr 2012
	Pelican Re Ltd. (Series 2012-1)	Louisiana Citizens	Louisiana hurricane	$125m	Apr 2012
	Akibare II Ltd.	Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Ltd.	Japan typhoon (wind & flood losses)	$130m	Apr 2012
	Blue Danube Ltd. (Series 2012-1)	Allianz Argos 14 GmbH	U.S. hurricane, U.S. earthquake, Canada earthquake, Caribbean hurricane, Mexico hurricane	$240m	Apr 2012
	Combine Re Ltd. (Series 2012-1)	Swiss Re America	U.S. hurricane, U.S. earthquake, U.S. severe thunderstorm, U.S. winter storm	$200m	Mar 2012
	East Lane Re V Ltd. (Series 2012-1)	Chubb Group	U.S. hurricane, U.S. severe thunderstorm	$150m	Mar 2012
	Mystic Re III Ltd. (Series 2012-1)	Liberty Mutual	U.S. hurricane, U.S. earthquake	$275m	Mar 2012
	Queen Street V Re Ltd.	Munich Re	U.S. hurricane, European windstorm	$75m	Feb 2012
	Embarcadero Re Ltd. (Series 2012-1)	California Earthquake Authority	California earthquake	$150m	Jan 2012
	Kibou Ltd. (Series 2012-1)	Hannover Re for Zenkyoren	Japan earthquake	$300m	Jan 2012
	Ibis Re II Ltd. (Series 2012-1)	Assurant	U.S. hurricane	$130m	Jan 2012
	Successor X Ltd. (Series 2012-1)	Swiss Re	U.S. hurricane, European windstorm	$63m	Jan 2012
	Vitality Re III Ltd. (Series 2012-1)	Aetna Life Insurance Company	Medical benefit claims levels	$150m	Jan 2012

.
We should note that we cannot yet confirm whether Skyline Re Ltd. completed in 2012, or whether it settled after the New Year. There is also a chance that Skyline Re may have upsized, so our total of approximately $6.339 billion could be revised slightly once we have more details on that transaction.

Catastrophe bond and ILS issuance in 2012 was well distributed across the year with the 1st, 2nd and 4th quarters all seeing very strong issuance, while the 3rd quarter experienced the typical lull caused by the Atlantic hurricane season. Even with that lull the 3rd quarter still managed $790m of issuance. Investors need this regular issuance to enable them to raise and deploy capital more easily, rather than focusing on a specific period of the year. The chart below shows the volume of issuance and number of transactions per quarter over the course of 2012 (data from our Deal Directory).

2012 catastrophe bond and ILS issuance by quarter

The only month of 2012 which saw no primary issuance at all, again according to our Deal Directory, was August. The chart below shows issuance volume in $ billions and the number of transactions recorded each month. What is particularly interesting is the clear bounce back in November as the Atlantic hurricane season came to an end despite the uncertainty surrounding hurricane Sandy. The fact that the market came back so strongly at the end of the year is testament to the attractive issuance conditions and the maturity of the market. January saw the most deals come to market with 5, closely followed by April and November with 4, while April saw the greatest volume at $1.245 billion helped by Everglades Re.

2012 catastrophe bond and ILS issuance by month

We look forward to filling up the Deal Directory as new transactions come to market in 2013 and will keep you abreast of any, and all, developments in the cat bond and ILS market. Remember, for full details of every catastrophe bond & ILS transaction since the market began just visit our Deal Directory.