Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company has lifted the target size a little further for its Aquila Re I Ltd. (Series 2026-1) catastrophe bond sponsorship, with the company now seeking between $325 million and as much as $350 million of multi-peril reinsurance protection, Artemis has learned.
Nationwide Mutual ventured back to the catastrophe bond market in April, with this new Aquila Re I deal set to become the eleventh Nationwide sponsored catastrophe bond issuance that we have listed in our extensive Artemis Deal Directory.
Initially, Nationwide Mutual was aiming to secure $200 million of multi-peril and multi-year indemnity triggered and per-occurrence based reinsurance protection from this Aquila Re I 2026-1 cat bond transaction.
In our first update, we reported that Nationwide had lifted the target size for this transaction to seek between the initial $200 million and as much as $325 million of reinsurance, while the price guidance was also adjusted for both of the tranches of notes on offer.
We have now been told by sources, that Nationwide has lifted the target size a little further for this Aquila Re I Series 2026-1 cat bond sponsorship to seek between $325 million and as much as $350 million of reinsurance.
At the same time, the price guidance has been lowered once again for both of the tranches of notes on offer, as Nationwide Mutual looks to capitalise on investor appetite across the cat bond market.
The two tranches of Aquila Re I Series 2026-1 cat bond notes on offer will protect Nationwide Mutual against losses from the perils of US named storm, earthquake, severe thunderstorm, winter storm, wildfire, meteorite impact, volcanic eruption.
The protection from the Aquila Re I Series 2026-1 cat bond notes will run across a four-year term, from June 2026 to the end of May 2030.
The Class A-1 notes were initially $100 million in size, which was later lifted to between the initial $100 million and as much as $190 million. We understand the notes are now targeted at $190 million in size.
These Class A-1 notes come with an initial base expected loss of 0.52%, and they were first offered to cat bond investors with price guidance in a range from 4% to 4.75%, which was then updated to a tighter spread of between 3.75% to 4%. We understand the notes have now fallen further to a new price guidance range of 3.5% and 3.75%.
The Class B-1 tranche of notes were also initially $100 million in size, which was later lifted between the initial $100 million and as much as $135 million in size. We understand that the notes are now targeted at between $135 million and as much as $160 million.
The Class B-1 notes come with an initial base expected loss of 1.24%, and they were originally offered to cat bond investors with price guidance in a range from 4.75% to 5.5%, which was later updated to a tighter spread of between 4.5% to 4.75%. We have now been told that the price guidance has been lowered again to between 4.25% and 4.5%.
Nationwide Mutual continues to adjust both the size and pricing of its latest catastrophe bond to capitalise on investor demand within the market at this time.
As a reminder, you can read all about this new Aquila Re I Ltd. (Series 2026-1) catastrophe bond transaction and every other cat bond ever issued in our Artemis Deal Directory.
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