ILS manager Coriolis Capital acquired by SCOR Investment Partners

One of the longest-standing insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund managers Coriolis Capital Limited has been acquired by SCOR Investment Partners, the investment arm of reinsurance giant SCOR.

SCOR Investment Partners has agreed to acquire 100% of the capital of Coriolis Capital, which was one of the first ever investment managers in the ILS sector, allocating its investors capital to and constructing portfolios of catastrophe bonds, collateralized reinsurance and climate or weather derivatives.

Once regulatory approval is received, Coriolis Capital is set to become a wholly owned subsidiary of SCOR Investment Partners, in a transaction that the firm expects to be completed in the second half of 2019.

Coriolis Capital is based in London and at our last count for our ILS fund managers directory had around $800 million of ILS and reinsurance linked assets under management.

SCOR Investment Partners has been in the ILS fund management space since 2011, when it launched its Atropos fund, and has gone on to build its clients diversified portfolios of ILS and reinsurance linked assets exposed exclusively to natural catastrophe risk, with its assets under management now having reached $1.3 billion.

Hence, the acquisition of Coriolis Capital now sees SCOR with ILS assets under the group’s management of $2.1 billion and ILS investing operations in both Paris and London.

The company said that with this acquisition, “SCOR Investment Partners is entering an important new phase in its development and expanding its capacity on the ILS market.”

Adding that the enlarged ILS management platform will help it to, “Provide its investors with strong value-added expertise and services, including improved market access, additional expertise in financial engineering and complementary fund infrastructure.”

Denis Kessler, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of SCOR, commented on the news of the acquisition of Coriolis Capital, “With this acquisition, SCOR is advancing its development in the field of alternative reinsurance in order to seize market opportunities and benefit from the institutionalization of ILS as an asset class. The resulting ILS platform will reach a critical size. Alongside ILS origination with our SCOR Global P&C clients, in synergy with the underwriting teams, this will create new opportunities for our ILS management business, enabling it to move into the top tier of the market.”

Size is seen as an increasingly important trait for ILS fund managers, although smaller, boutiques still operate quite effectively and profitably.

SCOR has taken the acquisition approach to propel its scale in ILS further, adding a highly experienced outfit in Coriolis and one of the longest-standing, as the firm had begun investing in ILS as long ago as mid-1999.

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