Best of Artemis, week ending 16th February 2020

Here are the ten most popular news articles, week ending 16th February 2020, covering catastrophe bonds, ILS, reinsurance capital and related risk transfer topics. To ensure you never miss a thing subscribe to the weekly Artemis email newsletter updates or get our email alerts for every article we publish.

Ten most read articles on Artemis.bm, week ending 16th February 2020:

1. PartnerRe the subject of $9bn sale talks between Exor & Covéa
   PartnerRe, the Bermuda headquartered reinsurance company, is the subject of exclusive talks regarding a potential $9 billion sale between its owner Exor and French insurance group Covéa.
2. PGGM added $355m to Vermeer Re investment in 2019, to hit target $1bn cap
   PGGM, the Dutch pension fund investment manager and the largest investor in the insurance-linked securities (ILS) space, made good on its option to upsize its allocation to Vermeer Reinsurance Ltd., the joint-venture vehicle that is managed by RenaissanceRe, taking Vermeer’s total capitalisation to over $1 billion in 2019.
3. Work to do, but ILS ready to grasp opportunities, say ILS NYC 2020 speakers
   The insurance-linked securities (ILS) market recognises the need to learn from recent catastrophe loss activity and to firm up its processes and structures to the benefit of cedents and investors, while at the same time ILS players are ready to grasp emerging opportunities for growth and diversification, speakers at our fourth conference in New York said.
4. Mexico returns for $425m+ quake & hurricane World Bank cat bond
   The government of Mexico has returned to the catastrophe bond market with the help of the World Bank and its International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), seeking a $425 million or larger slice of parametric earthquake and hurricane disaster insurance from the capital markets through an issue we’ve named IBRD / FONDEN 2020.
5. African Risk Capacity appoints former AXA exec as new CEO of insurer
   A new CEO has been appointed to lead the insurance mutual and financial affiliate of the African Risk Capacity (ARC), the African Risk Capacity Insurance Company Ltd (ARC Ltd), with Lesley Ndlovu joining the firm from his most recent position with a division of AXA.
6. Fidelis gets $300m capital injection, including from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority
   Fidelis Insurance Holdings Limited, the specialty insurance and reinsurance firm launched by Richard Brindle, has announced a new raise of fresh capital to help it expand its business, with an equity growth round that featured the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority alongside existing shareholders.
7. Alternative capital helps Everest Re “dust off” Purple, grow retro 25%
   Everest Re took advantage of market conditions around the January renewals to build a significantly larger book of retrocession business, leveraging its access to alternative reinsurance capital and use of catastrophe bonds to allow it to deploy capital into its Purple pillared retro product.
8. Commercial property insurance rates accelerate globally. Positive for ILS
   The impacts of catastrophe losses around the globe continue to be felt in the commercial property insurance market, as rate rises continued to accelerate in the fourth-quarter of 2019 with U.S. property one of the fastest moving segments.
9. AIG enhances agg reinsurance, adds new occurrence, all at 7% lower cost
   Insurance giant AIG has continued to enhance its catastrophe reinsurance program as it looks to take volatility out of its General Insurance business, further optimising its aggregate tower and adding new occurrence towers at the January renewals.
10. RenRe’s third-party capital fee income soars as assets continue to rise
    Bermuda-based reinsurance firm and third-party capital management specialist RenaissanceRe has benefited from significantly higher fee income earned through its various third-party capital management and ILS fund activities in 2019.

This is not every article published on Artemis during the last week, just the most popular, some of which were published over a week ago. There were 31 new articles published in the last week. To ensure you always stay up to date with Artemis and never miss a story subscribe to our weekly email newsletter which is delivered every Wednesday.

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