Best of Artemis, week ending August 31st 2025

Here are the ten most popular news articles, week ending August 31st 2025, 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.

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Ten most read articles on Artemis.bm, week ending August 31st 2025:

1. Jessica Laird promoted to CEO, Nephila Capital as Majors steps back from leadership
   Nephila, one of the world’s largest and longest-standing insurance-linked securities (ILS) managers, has made changes at the leadership level, with Jessica Laird promoted to become CEO of Nephila Capital, as one of its co-founders, Frank Majors, steps back from the top team to focus on portfolio construction.
2. Sompo acquiring Aspen for $3.5bn, cites Aspen Capital Markets as a key benefit
   Sompo Holdings, Inc. has announced that it will acquire insurance and reinsurance group Aspen Insurance Holdings in a deal valued at $3.5 billion, while it cites access to alternative capital through the Aspen Capital Markets unit as a key benefit and a “highly differentiated product offering.”
3. Enstar launches $300m Scaur Hill Re, its first casualty reinsurance sidecar
   Enstar, one of the largest legacy and run-off reinsurance specialists in the world, has launched its first direct third-party capital play, a $300 million casualty reinsurance sidecar named Scaur Hill Re Ltd. which is backed by a number of institutional investors.
4. Munich Re’s Golling cautions on staying power of cat bond and ILS capital investors
   Every few years it feels like groundhog day again, as we begin to see a rise in negative sentiment towards the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market and its investors from major traditional reinsurance companies, typically at a time of rising competitive dynamics in the marketplace.
5. PartnerRe Capital Management hires Baltesar as Head of Portfolio & Analytics
   PartnerRe Capital Management, the specialist division of global reinsurer PartnerRe that manages third-party capital on behalf of investors and deploys it to reinsurance opportunities, has hired Benjamin Baltesar as Head of Portfolio and Analytics.
6. Alternative capital hits $121bn record high. Cat bonds and sidecars the key growth drivers: Aon
   The amount of alternative capital in reinsurance supplied by insurance-linked securities (ILS) strategies and structures has reached a new high of $121 billion as of the middle of 2025, which Aon Securities notes was driven by strong catastrophe bond growth and supported by ongoing expansion of the sidecar sector as well.
7. Twelve Securis names Paul Larrett Head of Private ILS, as Lloyd to depart firm
   Twelve Securis, the specialist insurance-linked securities investment manager, has made some changes to the leadership for its private ILS focused division, with long-standing employee Paul Larrett named as the new Head of Private ILS, as incumbent Herbie Lloyd is set to depart the company.
8. All indications point to continued catastrophe bond market growth: AM Best
   Record levels of catastrophe bond market issuance in 2025 are reshaping the pricing landscape, AM Best believes, but the rating agency sees no sign of a slow-down ahead, as “all indications point to continued growth.”
9. Risk management, tech, maturing ILS partnerships subdue the reinsurance cycle: AM Best
   The reinsurance market cycle has become more subdued thanks to sound risk management practices, strategic use of technology and a maturing partnership with alternative capital (ILS), according to rating agency AM Best.
10. Property cat still profitable as we enter hard market softening phase: Howden Re
    As per David Flandro, Managing Director, Head of Industry Analysis and Strategic Advisory at reinsurance broker Howden Re, “if it wasn’t obvious already, we are now firmly in the hard market softening phase of the rating cycle.”

This is not every article published on Artemis during the last week, just the most popular among our readers over the last seven days. There were 28 new articles published in the last week.

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