GAM Swiss Re Cat Bond fund strategy launched in New Zealand as PIE Fund

The GAM Swiss Re Cat Bond investment fund strategy will now be available to investors in New Zealand in the tax efficient Portfolio Investment Entities format, as the GAM Swiss Re ILS Income NZ PIE Fund opens for business on November 6th.

The GAM Swiss Re ILS Income NZ PIE Fund launches as a fund strategy sitting within the GAM Investment Funds PIE Scheme and is designed to provide New Zealand investors with an efficient route to access the returns of a global portfolio of insurance-linked securities (ILS), primarily catastrophe bonds, in an NZD-hedged format.

The PIE strategy will invest substantially all of its assets in the NZD hedged share class of the GAM Swiss Re Cat Bond, which is the long-standing Irish-domiciled UCITS cat bond fund that was launched in 2011.

Investors into a PIE fund strategy in New Zealand can benefit from a comparably lower tax rate rather than investing directly into the underlying offshore fund.

“We are pleased to bring this strategy to New Zealand. The PIE structure gives advisers and their clients access to an established ILS fund in a format designed for local investors, with currency exposure hedged to the New Zealand dollar,” explained Eric Finnell, GAM’s Managing Director, Australia and New Zealand.

The master fund, the GAM Swiss Re Cat Bond UCITS strategy, that underlies the GAM Swiss Re ILS Income NZ PIE Fund is co-managed by GAM London Limited and Swiss Re Insurance-Linked Strategies Inc., the specialist ILS investment management unit of the global reinsurance firm.

That GAM Swiss Re Cat Bond UCITS Fund had expanded its assets under management (AUM) in 2026, reaching $2.03 billion as of August 4th, and as of today just over $2.08 billion.

GAM has partnered with Adminis, a New Zealand based technology-driven wealth solutions specialist, to issue and manage its cat bond fund in the country in the PIE format.

Adminis provides investment accounting, administration, custody, registry, and portfolio and performance reporting services, supporting fund managers looking to operate in the New Zealand market.

The GAM Swiss Re ILS Income NZ PIE Fund will have a minimum investment size of NZD 50,000 and its initial distribution will be focused on financial advisers and wholesale investors. The fund will be priced weekly and is expected to pay quarterly distributions to investors.

Currently the fund will deliver returns based on a portfolio of over 300 securities, substantially catastrophe bonds, that cover event risks globally.

By making the GAM Swiss Re Cat Bond investment fund available in a PIE format, GAM and Swiss Re broaden their distribution into New Zealand in an investor friendly format for allocators in that country.

It’s not the first catastrophe bond fund in the PIE format, as recall that Fermat Capital Management launched the Fermat Cat Bond PIE Fund back in August, becoming the first cat bond strategy to adopt this distribution route.

View information on many dedicated ILS fund managers, as well as reinsurers offering ILS style investment opportunities, in our Insurance-Linked Securities Investment Managers & Funds Directory.